Briggs & Stratton 030801 Petrol Portable Inverter Generator PowerSmart Series P2400, 2400 Watt/1800 Watt Clean Power, Ultra Quiet and Lightweigh

Quality Equipme
I’ve not tried this out yet but the generator looks good quality and good value for the money. Of course I think that is a little dependent on when you buy it as the price seems to fluctuate wildly for some reason.
One of the main reasons I’m doing a review before I’ve actually used it (I’ll follow up with and update once I’ve used it) is to let folk know that the sizes of the unit given on the product review are of the size of the box the generator comes in and not the actual size of the unit, which as far as I can see isn’t even mentioned in the user manual either. I thought this info might be useful to anyone wanting to buy a cover for the unit at the same time as buying the unit itself. Anyway, allowing for a margins of error that might occur when measuring the unit as it’s not an easy shape to measure exactly, are: length 51cm x width 31cm x high 45cm. Quite a difference from the product info.
UPDATE
The weather improved enough for me to finally be able to start the generator up. A little tricky to put the oil in without spilling too much even with the supplied funnel but I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it. Filled up the tank and after 6 or so pulls on the starting rope it burst into life. I let it run for about 90 mins and it chugged away quite happily. I didn’t put any load on it for its first outing. It’s fairly quiet and overall I’m very happy with the unit. I’ll start it up again in a day or so and try it with a small load, then change the oil. Should be ready for all eventualities then.
UPDATE
Finished off the running in with a 1hr run and changed the oil. The unit started first pull and had a 800w load on it for most of that hour. The generator behaved perfectly. Even happier than before!

Noise level
The generator with light easy to use and most if all pretty quie

Its also heaver than I expected but still great produc
Noisy than I expected but good quality product great build quality

Excellent emergancy tool
Daughter lost all power to house for several days this generator allowed her to stay in the house while repairs were being made

brillia
whats an awesome bit fo kit, quiet and runs perfectly. would fully recommend, i use for my camper as its small and quite ligh

Portable petrol generato
Pros:
Looks nice!
Easy to start (by pull cord)
Has a 12 volt DC port (equivalent of a car cigarette lighter plug)
Relatively quiet
Decent fuel capacity (holds a gallon of petrol) and can run for up to 8 hours.

Cons:
Doesn’t have a USB port so you’ll need to use an adapter
It’s heavy!
Difficult to tell when it’s running low on petrol.

It’s been perfect for us in terms of powering tools in the garden.

Photos don't do the product justice
There are some aspects of the visual quality of the casing which needs improvement: there are larger than is necessary gaps between the casings and some rear panels are bowed slightly and do not fit flush with the casing.

However, having said that, it is a nice looking device; and is nicely balanced in relation to its weight when carrying. I would point out though, that the photographs provided by the manufacture show a man putting the generator into his car in such a fashion that if really true, would probably result in an injured wrist: unless carrying it at one’s side by the handle, one is aware that this is no light weight machine. Without being disrespectful to the delivery man, when he kindly advised me against taking it from him before he reached the front door of my house, I looked at his very slim frame and thought ‘no problem’: if he can do it, so can I. Ha, well, I had to keep a straight face when I took it from him – in the cardboard box and protective packing too – and then found myself thinking – “Oh, he wasn’t joking, was he”.

The instruction manual is very good in that respect but I do wish that manufactures would just provide a manual written in the target language rather than a tome of some 20 languages; what a waste of the Earth’s resources: 700 grams of wood for each package.

Unleaded petrol is needed to a minimum of 87 Octane. Sae30 oil. I was a bit disappointed to see that yearly maintenance is necessary even if the device is hardly used. Briggs Stratton strongly recommend that an authorised service centre is used for the maintenance as valves need checking and obviously they consider such as being a skilled operation. (250 hours of usage or 1 year is judged as the time period when checking those valves would be necessary.) It is recommended that the oil is changed before storage of the device for more than a month and that a stabilizer is added to the petrol or it should be removed before storing the generator. (I never realised that petrol degrades if stored for too long a time.)

The perception of noise is very subjective; and is very much influenced by surfaces which surround a device from which sound waves are emanating. The ability of a surface to absorb, rather than reflect, sound, is measured in sabins. For those people who intend to use the genertor/inverter on camping site type environments, I don’t see much problem.

From a safety point of view the generator should not be used inside buildings and should be sited at least 1.5 metres from such structures or trees. It would seem that Briggs Stratton have 2 major concerns regarding those factors: the possibility of carbon monoxide build up, which is colourless/odorless – and is harmful to human life because carbon monoxide “steals” oxygen molecules from the air and thereby starves a human being who is in the same environment of life giving oxygen. The second aspect is the likihood of the generator causing fires to such things as trees due to the heat of exhaust gases.

I can see that a lot of hard work has gone into designing/ manufacturing this device but given that it is built in a low cost environment – China – I question whether the selling price is justified.