Very impressed with the quality of this unit. The electric start works great. The unit size is perfect, and it runs very quiet. Would highly recommend buying this generator
Our > 25 year old generator was due for replacement. After researching multiple makes/models this was an easy choice: -Excellent price for a major brand of this capacity -Electric starter with built-in starter battery charger (multiple others require pulling the battery and using an external trickle charger)- works fine, starts quickly -L14-30R 240VAC receptacle (reusing existing power cable to our inside manual transfer switch) -Handle/wheel set included (no need to purchase separately) -Simple, effective, display - voltage, frequency, hours, plus CO alarm indicator -Fairly quiet - with exhaust properly pointed away from the house, nearby windows closed, there was just a little background noise in the rooms immediately adjacent to where it was running (quieter than a small table fan on low speed) -Very good run time given its fairly small size/weight. I'm confident it'll power all of our loads for a full night in the middle of winter, if necessary. I always use ethanol-free regular unleaded, with fuel stabilizer added, for outdoor engines. -Easy setup, good quick start guide Minor nits: -Transport tie wrap on the starter battery cables should be slightly looser. Not harmful but a little overly tight -Starter battery cables should be slightly longer, to facilitate attaching the cable connectors and allow moving it out of the way when filling/refilling oil. Maybe 3" total longer would be quite nice. -Oil fill spout (included) should be slightly longer, again around 2" - 3". It's not quite long enough to bend the inlet side of the spout "up" when filling, though does work okay.
While the THD spec is high, during my 3 hr initial test run I was seeing no issues on any of our standard home electronics - LED lighting, home/consumer-grade routers and PCs, monitors/TVs, FIOS internet,... Either the THD is lower when the generator is not pushed to capacity, or after initial startup (a couple minutes total from generator powered on to when I had used the transfer switch to transfer loads to it), but I'm comfortable that it's working fine with our loads. Our 240VAC well pump was cycled a few times during the initial run, 120VAC main home heater and water heater blowers ran several times, and I ran a space heater for added load. (in the Summer we don't use a space heater, but have a few window mounted ACs which have about the same total load).
I'll be doing another 3 hr run soon, then refill with 5W-30 synthetic oil for long-term use.
I bought the WGen5300sc Wednesday. Today is Saturday and FedEx delivered it. I currently have no power from the storm last night. So when it was delivered I already had my Generator switch connected and ready to go. When it was dropped off I immediately put it to work. It’s been going for 7 hours now running my entire house! Amazing generator, not too big and not too small.