Sportsman 8,750/7,000-Watt Dual-Fuel Digital Inverter Portable Generator

Runs exactly as it should. Great price

-This review is being left after only running it for 10 min on propane. -We needed a dual fuel that has a 220 v output for our well pump in an emergency. It was also a requirement that inverter technology. Stable output will ensure no damage happens specifically to anything running a motor, including the well pump or the fans/auger on our pellet stove. -The price and power for this seems to be a great balance and the build quality does seem good.. I did see other reviews where there seemed to be some QC issues. I had it sent to our local TSC so the "it arrived with (some broken or leaking part)" was not an issue. A lot of those reviews seemed to do with what was probably shipment damage and not so much with build quality. -It started well enough: due to the engine size, this recoil starter did require some muscle and so I purchased the option battery to start this but have not yet have had time to test starting it that way. I'm 55, 6' tall and about 170 lbs and am in shape and I am noting that it required significant effort to pull it quickly enough to start it, at least the first time. It may loosen up after the break in time. This is not a negative but just a reality for a generator this size: it very hard to move by oneself. This is meant to be put somewhere and stay. Get a cover or have a protected place because this would not be easy to move out of a garage or shed in an emergency and there is no wheel kit available for it. One could put it on and secure it to a cart that can handle the 150 lbs. -It is a great bonus that there is a starter motor included/built in.

This generator was ordered in early December 2024. I had read all the online reviews from this and other big box sites and there seemed to be a general consensus that the shipping / packaging procedure was poor, with items often arriving damaged. There were also several complaints about poor quality control, ranging from fuel line leaks to bad/damaged engine frame mounts to difficulty starting to the choke not working. Shipping- I'm happy to report that I experienced none of those problems with my unit. It was delivered to my house via a 3rd party shipping company on a 28' pup trailer mounted to a skid. The outside top of the shipping box was slightly damaged, but the inner generator box showed no damage and the unit itself showed no damage. One note out of the gate- the unit I received includes a CO2 monitoring system to shut down the machine in the event it detects unsafe levels of CO2. Pictures online do not show this system, which is integrated into the front panel, so this must be a "Gen 2" version of the machine. The documentation that came with the unit includes an addendum page to the operating manual that describes the function of the CO2 monitor. This is a nice addition to the product that seems to be added with no additional increase in price. Accessories- I went out and purchased a battery jump start system from eBay to enable the electric start feature. Found a more powerful unit with higher cranking amps than the manufacturer recommended unit at a lower price, so win/win. The generator comes with the adapter cord you need to plug into the battery. I also followed the advice of another reviewer here and purchased the wheel kit that is available for smaller Sportsman units and then modified it by purchasing a length of 3/8" steel rod for around $5. The wheels themselves and the prop legs fit fine on the larger unit, you just need a longer steel axle rod as the overall frame dimensions are larger. The handle that comes with the wheel kit unfortunately does not fit well and in reality the weight of the unit would demand 2 handles for proper movement. However, I have found that with the wheel kit installed, it is fairly easy to just pick one side of the unit up by the upper frame bar and wheel it around that way. A bonus of having the wheel kit installed is it is now much easier to complete an oil change, as a standard low profile oil pan fits directly underneath the unit and I don't have to lift anything. I also purchased a cheap hour meter online for less than $10 to monitor oil change frequencies. All in all, I spent less than $100 in accessories to bring the generator up to the same standard as similar ones from other brands that include those items out of the box, albeit at a higher initial price for the same wattage. Operation- I plan on running the unit exclusively on propane unless future circumstances dictate otherwise. Upon adding the recommended amount of oil (33.2 oz.) and attaching the propane tank, the unit started within 3 seconds using the electric start and the choke fully pulled. Once the unit started, I pushed the choke back in immediately and the motor smoothed out into a constant RPM within 5 seconds. Per the manufacturer guidelines, I broke the machine in by running it for five hours, with no load for the first 10 minutes and then varying loads (no higher than 50%) for the remaining time. I used a hair dryer (1600 watt) and space heater (1500 watt) to simulate a 50% load (total rated wattage on propane is 6300 watts), and varied the application of them, running one, both, none, etc. over the 5 hour time frame to properly seat the piston rings. I then changed the oil at the 5 hour mark and replaced with high quality 10W30 full synthetic. I also followed the wisdom found in online forums and replaced the spark plug with an NGK unit at the 5 hour mark. The manual proceeds to recommend that the unit does not see a 100% load for the first 20 hours of operation which I will follow. Overall, extremely impressed with the value received for this generator. For less than $100, I was able to add the proper accessories to make this comparable to any other inverter generator out there in the 7000 watt class, while remaining several hundred dollars below the nearest competitor. Engine starts quickly and runs smoothly. No problems to report.

Don't know how this works because it didn't run out of the box. The frame was dented on the bottom as though it was dropped many times before I received it. I don't know what it did to it but the result was NO SPARK! None at all and nothing to check but the plug. Sent it back for credit.