Briggs & Stratton P4500 Portable (030814) Generators, 4500-Watt, Gray/Red

Just got this last week and already had a chance to use it for a couple hours during a short power outage..it is signifantly quieter than a conventional generator but not as quiet as a comparable Honda invertor. I find it relatively hard to start as it takes about 4 to 5 good pulls to get it to kick over. Hope it isn't much harder in cold conditions. And lastly, I normally pump the gas out of generators when I'm done, since the next I use may be days or years. But the tank doesn't have a flat bottom and hard to pump out everything. So I pump out as much as I can and run the rest with stablizer.. Good generator so far though.

When I first got it, I was excited to start it up and try it out. So, after adding the oil and everything you're supposed to do per the instructions, I realized the battery was dead , I pulled the recoil, it started maybe the second time.After running a few minutes it would surge and sputter to a stop. It would continue doing this until it started running well all of a sudden. A few days later I tried it again but it still wouldn't stay running. I read another review saying the air filter needed to have oil added to it (like the manual tells you to do under maintenance) and wasn't done at the factory. Also the spark plug wasn't quite the right gap, so I fixed that. It didn't seem to solve the problem yet, I was planning on returning it. But then even though I could see the gas inside the tank, I decided to put even more gas in it and it started right up! It's been running well ever since.I think it's pretty sensitive to getting new gas and even though my gas wasn't that old, it might have been just old enough. Along with the other fixes, I think it all helped it. It might need closer to a gallon to get it going initially. Now I have about 2.5 hours on it and have tested it under load with my travel trailer's ac and it seems to run it well. Although during one attempt, the inrush current of the ac unit overloaded the unit but it got going the other times. I think in quiet mode it had a hard time throttling up to match the load and that's when it overloaded. I think it does better if you turn off the quiet mode when you are preparing to turn on large loads. With the ac running it was around 40% and then I added an electric kettle to the load and it continued well around 70%. I haven't tried it camping yet, but will soon. It seems louder than the small Hondas but quieter than other generators.The electric start is an awesome feature but even the recoil start is pretty easy.It's unfortunate I had a rough time getting it going, but now that I have it running. I'm happy with it so far.

I've had this unit for a little under a year. I try to fire it up once a month to make sure it's running. I'm thinking of buying a second to use in tandem for power outages. I saw a lot of complaints about the electric start so I thought I would write this review for everyone.I've never been able to get the electric start to work consistently, hence the 4 stars. If you want it to work, I think you would either have to have run the unit very recently, or keep the small battery on a trickle charger (approx $20 at harbor freight). I think the little twelve volt doesn't maintain enough charge over time for it to work - makes sense, what would your car do if you turn it on once a month. The plug on the 12v plugs directly into the trickle charger if you want to go that route.The instruction manual says to open the front panel and flick the choke over to start it with the pull handle. I haven't found that to be necessary. I just pull it to start it and it works fine. You may need to use the choke the first time.I haven't had this long term, so I can update the review if I have other problems, but this will avoid the electric start problem.

This is my 3rd, and best, of 2 different "American" brand Chinese manufactured inverters purchased for under $1,000 in the past 8 years. They're OK for the money. I have only ever been able to start this one via electric start. All 3 began to slowly leak oil after a few hundred hours.

The media could not be loaded.  Thick plastic exterior and sound deadening on the inside. Seems solid running good now. I had old fuel in the video. Put in fresh with the additives and no issues. Also I went with a 5w-30 synthetic for oil as per owners manual it is what is recommended when in higher hear areas//Phoenix AZ...Battery was dead and seems to be charging. If it doesn’t charge itself I’ll re post. Started on like the 4/5th pull. Probably because gas had to fill carburetor. Second and 3rd start 2 pulls... running for 4 hours if it doesn’t start with electric start I’ll have to charge battery. If I have to charge it I’ll update post……..update july 28..after 10 hours on motor and first camping trip that I actually needed it, the engine won’t stay running.. stumbles and stalls.. sometimes I get 10 minutes sometimes I get five and will not hold the load of an ac unit or microwave anymore.. Amazon is sending me another one. It’s either a carb issue or electronic choke or??? Could be any other one of the electronics failing.. that stumble in the video got progressively worse. Make sure to test generator under load immediately.. I did not and got smacked in the face with problems when I put it to work. Keeping at 4 stars as I have faith that it was just a bad one and Amazon is coming through with a replacement!!