Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I was excited when I found out that Generac got back into the portable generator business.They sold their portable generator line to Briggs and Stratton a few years ago but they are back to producing portable generators again.I always liked the Generac portables.They were quality products at reasonable prices.I've owned a Generac 4000EXL for 12 years.It is a great little generator and the only one I knew of at the time with an OHVI engine.My experience with the 4000EXL is the reason I purchased the XP8000E.
I ordered my XP8000E over the Internet.Due to the bad ice storm in the Northeast, none of the local dealers had them in stock.I paid $50 less than Lowe's sells it for and that included free liftgate delivery, which was nice since this unit weighs 200lb.In retrospect, the ability to return it to Lowe's would have been worth the extra $50.
The XP8000E was well packed. The packaging is ingenious and if you follow the instructions, removal is really easy.On the down side, following the instructions means you are cutting all four corners of the box so if you have to return it, you have no box.The generator is mounted on top of a heavy cardboard support.It suspends the generator just enough so you can slip the wheels on without having to lift it at all.Once the wheels are on, the generator rolls easily out of the now flattened box.The only thing I didn't like about the old red Generac generators is that the wheels were under the motor end and the handles were on the alternator end.The alternator is the heavier side of a generator so you were lifting the heavy alternator end whenever you moved it around.I was pleased to see that the new models are designed so that the weight is over the wheels rather than the handles.This makes moving the XP8000E almost as easy as the 4000EXL, even though it weighs twice as much.
The next step was to fill the generator with oil.The XP8000E Operator manual specified 3 different oil viscosities depending on ambient temperature.There was no oil that could be used for all temperature ranges.This is a nuisance because in New England, temperatures can vary widely and I didn't want to have to change the oil 4 times per year (for each season).Conversely, the engine manual for this generator said 5W-30 full synthetic oil could be used from -20
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