Review of Generac 5700 GP6500 8,000 Watt Portable Gas Powered Generator (online, purchase, China)

[reviewer]

Winter storm outages, the need for portable power sources at remote places on our ranch and the handy availability of portable power led us to purchase the Generac 5747 Portable Generator for our needs. We lose our power several times a year for periods of a few minutes to several days depending on the cause. Heavy ranch projects using our portable electric tools are a daily occurrence for us. We needed a dependable quick, strong (8000 watts) to power our tools in the field.

We shopped online and locally for our generator. A neighbor had a Generac generator that he used so when he recommended Generac we decided to buy. We paid over $1300 for it so it was not the lowest priced generator but had great features. California Air Resources Board certification is probably one of the reasons the cost is higher for Generac's sold in California.

Assembly is simple and quick which was a good start. Speaking of starting we fueled it up checked the oil and after charging he battery, which I will address later, we pulled the choke, pressed the start button, and voila, power.

It is interesting that this is an American built product being manufactured in Wisconsin rather than China. It may have Chinese manufactured components in its building. It is quite impressive.

As we have not had any power outages since the purchase, we have used it around the ranch and it is excellent. We bare put any drag on the Generac with saws drills, pumps 8000 watts operations rating. We find the 250-pound weight to be a minor inconvenience but we have a lift on our truck to take care of that.

The 9-gallon fuel tank is sufficient for long operation as far as we can tell. The specs show a 10-hour runtime with a 50 percent load but we have not had an opportunity to test it. The hour meter is a real help in keeping track of maintains needs, as is the low oil shut don feature to protect the motor.

The need for the 12-volt adapter is a disappointment for me since it needs to be plugged into the house system to maintain the battery rather than charging from the generator system itself. However, this feature means that I will not have to face a dead battery when the local power goes off and that is probably a good feature.