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Technical Details
- Easy pull recoil starter- Compact roll cage
- Low oil shutdown
- Fold down handles
- Wheel kit
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By J. Wojewidka (CA)
I've owned one of these for about two years. We live in a rural area east of Seattle, and the winters have been getting worse each year. Right after a very bad storm that left us without power for nearly a week, I found this at a local Costco. It is very heavy, but easy to assemble the few parts not already attached (like the wheels and handles). It is better, though, to have someone help out, and *make sure* you're not doing this in the dark when it's raining or snowing! It's that wiper blade syndrome.
The operation is all pretty straight-forward. Check the oil, fill it with gas, go through the starting sequence. You have to remember, though, to always turn the fuel valve just underneath the tank to the "on" position (and turn it to off when you're done), and to pull the choke out before you use the pull starter (and to push it back in when it's running smoothly, which isn't long at all).
I would have given this five stars, but for a few of things that are related to operating it, not to its ability to deliver the goods. Product designers, take note: 1) The pull starter isn't real hard to use, but in a bit of an awkward place making you pull it with your body just a little twisted, 2) mine didn't come with a battery for the key-starter feature and that battery has proven to be hard to locate (still don't have one since the pull-start is "good enough"), 3) it is noisy, so I located mine behind a small utility shed 50 feet from the house - not so bad, now, but don't ask my neighbor what she thinks about it, 4) most gas cans aren't that sophisticated, so the location of the filler hole for the gas has to make up for it - and it doesn't. I've spilled a little gas over the top of the tank each time. It really should be closer to the edge, making it easier to sneak a full can's spout into the hole, and keeping that gas away from the hot stuff after it's been running, 5) there should be a "1-2-3" placard on the outside of this in a very visible place showing how to start it up. We use it a 2-3 times a year (maybe more, now), but simply don't keep that stuff in our heads, and shouldn't have to. My wife, in particular, could use that...and that battery I can't find.
Other than that, it's solid, reliable, runs for over ten hours on a full tank, and provides enough power to handle the refrigerator, a couple of small oil-filled heaters, a pretty big TV/cable box/speakers and the phone system/internet. You have to turn off something to run a microwave if all that stuff is running, but this thing didn't cost $3K, either. Oh, and the fabulous yellow color makes it easy to find in a snowstorm or cat-5 hurricane.
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