PowerShot Portable 5500-Watt Generator SPG5568

Here in Oklahoma we get the occasional power outage after a storm. Usually it is very short but occasionally an ice storm or lightning strike will take the power out for several days - long enough for all the food in your fridge and freezer to spoil. So, we like to have a generator or two ready for those times. A generator like this Simpson can easily put out enough power to keep your fridge or freezer running (our fridge runs on about 700 watts but when the compressor starts up your generator should probably be able to handle 1,500 watts). While you are running your fridge or freezer, you also have plenty of power to run a few lights or maybe a kettle or a computer and a TV or a little heater (not all at once but you can certainly handle another kilowatt or two of steady load). What you CANNOT do is power your air conditioning ( too many watts and also usually runs off of 220 volts and this generator does NOT have a 220 volt output) - maybe if you have a small portable single room air conditioner that runs off 110 volts it can handle that). Likewise, your washing machine and drier are probably too heavy for this baby to handle. This is supposed to be PORTABLE. Well it does have wheels (which my Predator generator lacks) but weighing in at 110 pounds all I am going to do is wheel it around the house (OUTSIDE the house - you do NOT want to have this running indoors - not if you want to keep living) and I shall leave it to sturdier folk to shlep this on a camping trip. This unit was fairly easy to set up - you DO need to read the instructions carefully and buy the right kind of oil to keep the beast adequately lubricated. Personally, I like to run my generator on gasoline with ZERO ETHANOL - costs a little more but your generator will last longer if you avoid the corrosion that comes with burning gas with ethanol. Also, since the generator may sit around for a while waiting for its moment of glory after a power outage, I add some stabilizer (like STP) to the gasoline. (I do the same for my lawn mower and it is running just fine on stabilized ethanol gasoline that is more than two years old).

Larger than I would have liked but brings the power. Slightly noisy, but when the power is out, who cares.

For the price I was sceptical, too cheap, best genny I've bought, works perfectly for my race car operation

Added oil and fuel, started right up and the electric start and genset worked fine.
Review: After reading the other reviews, I found a common theme, and that was how loud everyone said it was. To my surprise and delight, it was no more noisy than my Subaru 5500.