Briggs & Stratton  Elite Series™ 7000 Watt Portable Generator – Non CA

I bought this generator to power my house in case of power outage..which seems to happen very frequently in the last year or so. I will be plugging generator into a manual transfer switch. So far out of the box the generator was very easy to assemble and started with the first turn of the key. It is a little loud but not any louder than my lawn mower. It seems very well constructed. It is heavy but easy to move around on wheels.

Our town is in the 5th day of power outage from the blizzard (MA). We were without power for 3 full days with night temps in the single digits. I had purchased this generator last fall (my electrician told me what specs to look for) and had an outside connection and interlock device installed on my electrical panel. This powered my oil furnace, fridge, microwave, 3 TVs, hair dyers etc. and all the lights. I didn't use my oven or clothes dryer on advice of my electrician. I got over 8 hrs average usage per tank of gas. Easy to use; rolls easily on the wheels. The electric start didn't work after 2nd day but the pull start worked on 1st pull. I noticed that I had to recharge the electric start every couple of weeks when testing it over the last few months. No big deal, just plug in the supplied charger. Don't procrastinate, just buy it!

I puirchased my generator #030470 the day after I got power back from hurricane Sandy. I had an old Powermate generator with 2000 watts that just ran a heater and refrigerator when I was out of power. The reason I purchased the Briggs and Strattonj was because of the engine. My Powermate by Coleman with a Briggs engine was in a carton for almost 25 years with never being started. I had purchased it when I bought my house in case I lost power. Well 25 years later I took it out of the box, put oil and gasoline in it and it started on the first pull! I had chances to buy other generators at a much reduced price than I paid for this model but it was well worth it. I purchased this because I vowed I would never be out of power again! I received it 2 days after Christmas, took it out of the box, put on wells, added oil and gasoline and it started up on the first turn of the key! I now bought to kit so that I can power most of my house.

brought this from sears because it has the low oil shutoff and the hour meter on it Don't buy from homedepot there don't have the extras. had it for about 3 months and had to use it when power went out the the temp was in the low 20s Hook it up and ran great the electric was off 20 hours very glad I brought it Ran the whole house except hot water heater and dryer. We have hot water heat no problems there For the money I am very happy with the purchase. yes I would recommend this to a friend

Bought after hurricane sandy to replace my smaller unit. Great generator but why picture it on all the websites with a heat shield part#'s 312020gs and 312019gs then have customer service tell me this is an option when mine arrives missing these parts. At about $1000.00 not even a gas filter screen. I would think at these prices there were no options to buy.

Brought home the first one... It worked fine, except for a loud rattling that developed after a couple of hours (I think it was the pull starter mechanism).. Since I was in the aftermath of Sandy, and it was working, I put up with the rattling and used it for about 5 days until my power was restored... When the store got more in stock, I exchanged it for another one.. When I brought home the second one, there was no rattling sound, but it wouldn't run smoothly... I gave it time, but it never stabilized.. And thanks to a non- adjustable carburetor, I had no choice but to bring this one back as well... Couple of days later, I unbox unit number three... It runs great with no rattles, but there is a part missing and the air cleaner housing is deformed so it doesn't sit straight.. The crooked air cleaner is just a cosmetic issue, and I can live with it.. But the missing part is the front support leg which is necessary... By this time, the store was out of stock and I was tired of hauling these around... Therefore I bolted a piece of wood in place of the support and called customer service.. They offered to send me the part... Three days later the wrong thing is delivered.. Now, several weeks, phone calls, and two promised delivery dates later, its still propped up on the wooden block.. Most recently I'm told that the piece is on back order with no estimated delivery date in sight.. All the service reps have been polite, but have given me conflicting info regarding delivery and description of the part itself.. I don't blame them for this.. Though it does make me rethink the company .. This generator, in my opinion, a product of great design and engineering but a victim of poor quality control, cost cutting, and cheap Chinese construction.. The features and price there, it just needs to be screwed together better.. Throughout the years I've bought and still own many Briggs related pieces of equipment.. Until now I've been nothing but happy with their products and hope that they come through for me... I will update this review upon resolution of this issue..

Picked up this machine last year after the extended outages lasting 15 days on two occasions in 2011. Generator now has 57 hrs. of run time with 51 of those from storm Sandy outage lasting 3 days here in CT. I have a transfer switch in the house to power my main panel and manage loads manually by using just the essentials. This would be the fridge, oil fired boiler for heat and HW, microwave, lights, TV, computer and the occasional 240V cooktop burner. About 5kw +/- at most. Voltage remains steady in the 119-120V range thanks to the automatic voltage regulator with frequency at 61.75Hz. Engine always starts easily and fuel usage is as expected. When a load kicks in engine easily handles it, not so much when load releases as the engine revs up a bit although OK. Very happy with the purchase so far which includes one of the best 3yr. warranty periods available and change the 5W-30 oil at 40hr. intervals or yearly with no oil usage between changes thus far.

Unit ran entire house for extended power outage. Flawless operation and no problems with anything not wanting to run on generated power. Variation from voltage and frequency appeared minimal - all electronic equipment ran fine with output voltage. Noisy? Yes. But nothing a couple well-placed sheets of plywood or gypsum can't solve. Now if they could just make a fuel can that performed as well as this generator ....

I purchased it during hurricane Sandy and it ran flawlessly for 7 days. It provided power to 2 refrigerators, gas furnace blower motor, sump pump, a few lights, and television with cable box. My wife was even able to do a load of wash and dry it in the gas dryer. The controls are simple and I like the fuel guage and hour meter. The unit ran on a tank of gas for 12 hours. Several of the neighbors on my street were using Briggs and Stratton generators during Sandy too.

I wondered why during a critical outage I could not rely on this genset to provide my residence with the correct type of power. I measured the output frequency at no load with a Fluke 87 and found it to be 85Hz. That's far above even the cutoff opoint for most reputable manufacrurers that shut the engine at 72-75Hz. And people wonder why their initials are BS....what junk. Not a single device could sync to the output, and now you're stuck dragging a 250lb device to a dealer for repair. Pathetic, what a gimmick of an industry. This said, it started and ran flawlessly, and voltage was always above 120V regadrless of load. Probably due to the fact that they failed to install idle controls, which spun the engine at ridiculous RPMs, which increased noise, and made the unit useless to anything I plugged into it other than a lightbulb.