Briggs & Stratton Q6500 Inverter Generator for Backup Power review 

I have read the two bad reviews that I could find. They are both by the same person. I have an issue with his method. He was running the genny in eco mode and put a load on it. The genny dropped to very low voltage for a second before cranking up to meet the demand. I would expect any inverter/generator and most small standard generators to respond this way, choking with the sudden demand and quickly catching up. Had he switched to full power and then turned on the load the response would have been totally different. It wouldn't have choked. I run power tools and a power-hungry leaf blower on mine from time to time and have found it is happier if you run it full speed, then apply the load, then put it on eco mode. But i will take your challenge and put a meter on mine and run it in a real-world setting. I did the monthly start-up today and put a meter on it. First, with no load and it running in eco mode, yep, it measured 104v. With no load and full run it measured 120v both legs. I am not surprised at these readings. Many generators run wacky voltage with no load. My old contractor generator runs at wild RPMs with no load and quickly settle in at 60 Hz when any load is applied. I then hooked it up to the house and switched the transfer switch. One leg measured at about 1/4 load and the second leg at 1/2 load. Both legs measured a solid 120v. No fluctuation in voltage. See pics of the readings below. It has now provided power during outages four times in the past two years. The shortest was a half hour or so, the longest about 13 hours. I do plan on putting permanent meters on both inputs of the transfer switch so I can monitor in real time without having to do anything but look at the meters. But I am confident this inverter/generator still is providing the clean power I need. Click to see the pic of the meter readings. photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipNvzrOkHWjob7AZExEq5n8JF48IEcR91NBaTW8I

I agree, it is a good value. Since doing this review we have used it three times. The first was during an electrical storm that took out a transformer. We ran it for about 8 hours. The second was a tripped fuse (another storm) and power was out an hour or so. the third was hurricane Ian. We lost power about 5 am after the eye of the storm had past. It took a little over 8 hours for OUC to get power back on in the neighborhood, which really wasn't bad. December is maintenance month. I will change the oil in this and the old generator and drain the gas and put in five gallons of ethanol free gas with stabilizer.

Damaris Rivera you’re welcome. It is our goal to provide accurate, concise and entertaining information. I do with you well.

Thank you for the kind words. We tried to give pertinent info and make it less boring than many RU-vid videos. Great ideas on a future video! So far, at this writing, the only mod has been to add the run clock (which I would think is essential). That was pretty easy. I drilled one small hole in the plastic housing under the handle and ran the single wire to the spark plug wire. The wire wraps around that wire a few times. I then used double-sided tape to adhere the timer to the plastic body, locating it under the handle. Works perfectly. As for the other modifications (handles for lifting and access door), I am still working those out in my head, but, yeah, when I do those I will certainly document and share.

They do. I had mine out for the monthly crank a couple weeks ago and connected the leaf blower up to it to clear the driveway. I figured as long as it was running I might as well get some use. As long as you are OK with pull starting and as I suggested add a clock (should be about $10-$15 and won't void the warrantee) you should be good. I just looked it up and they are about $1500-$1650 US dollars, but that is still about $1000 less than the next lower priced unit with 220v and enough power to do my house. That unit does have electric start but is a brand no one has ever heard of. The Yamaha in this power range is twice the price as the B&S and the Honda is three times the price. I do wish it cranked the first time every time. If I started it every week or two it probably would, but I start it once a month so takes two or three pulls. For me, the savings is worth the minimal aggravation.

Just be aware that if you do connect this way, code (and common sense) will require you have a way to lock out the electric company. These are usually mechanical devices that fit over the master breaker and the 30 amp breaker you want to add, allowing only one of them to be on. They are called "Generator Interlock kits" and can be purchased on Amazon.

@Aronious, did you get one at Canadian Tire? RoadBoogala Builds had 2 from Cdn Tire and they were both useless, and no refund. Exchange only. Exchange for another useless unit.

Rael Sant thank you for the kind words. It is our desire to provide information that is relevant and entertaining.

michelle evans thank you for the kind words.

You are welcome. It is our desire to entertain and inform.

Thank you for the kind words. It is our goal to put out useful information.

One thing I have learned when running power hungry devices (like my leaf blower) is to run the inverter with the Eco feature turned off while starting the appliance. Otherwise, when the appliance first powers on the genny will choke for a second, which couldn't be good for your AC. I then turn the Eco feature back on after the appliance is running. Please let us know if the 9500 Predator works for that application.

I haven’t found a dual fuel conversion, yet. I would like to find that, too. I was also looking for a way to give it electric start. Some engines are easy. I am keeping my eyes open for that, too.

Hurricane: Prepare to Survive But the pull start seems easy enough

Brent Bond it is. I had done my monthly run on the 5th. Took three pulls. When I ran it on the 9th for the power outage it started on the first pull.

Hurricane: Prepare to Survive There are so many off brand generators out there. They have dual fuel and are much cheaper than the Briggs, much less the Honda. I am a Floridian like you. We are delivering our first child in the world in the next 48 hours, so all this is fresh in my mind. You seem to be very knowledgeable on hurricane prep. Why ultimately did you stay away from the cheap generators and also stay away from the exceptional quality and performance from Honda? Did you think the Briggs was close enough to the quality of Honda at a fraction of the cost? Also, how expensive are these transfer switches to install? Does it involve cutting into walls? We just completed a full remodel of our home. It’s going to be too late to do it if so. We also have two separate breaker boxes in the house. Does that mean two separate transfer switches? These are big questions in my world right now.

@@brentbond7499 First, I wanted a genny that could do 220v and that really limits what is out there. I have had to live through many days without power and hot water becomes nice to have, so 220v is needed. There are quite a few that can power pretty much anything else, but wanting to power the water heater really limits it to a very few. I did give consideration to using a less expensive unit and just keep the old generator to do nothing but make hot water, but then it started to be more complex than I wanted. Second, about hurricane prep. I have lived in Florida my whole life and lived through quite a few storms. I know that you just have to consider that if the power goes out and there are lots of down trees, it could be a couple weeks before you can even get out or see any civilization. I just want to know that while my neighbors are out looking for grass and bugs to eat or standing in long lines in the hot sun for scraps of food, I have food, water, power and even working AC. I had a list of several on my list and just kept looking for one to show up on Craigslist. I would have picked a Honda or Yamaha, for sure, if the priced came down significantly. I did find one Honda really cheap that wasn't working. I almost bought it figuring it could be cheap to fix, but this came up so I went this way. Remember, I paid half price for this and it had never been started before I went to see it. We now have another half dozen videos in the series that have been shot and we are not editing. Most of these deal with food prep and one just goes over the FEMA checklist, which has good stuff but really needs some understanding. Third, I am an engineer and qualified to install the transfer switch, so I did it myself. It took about a half day, so consider an experience electrician might be able to do it in a little less time. I am about to help a buddy do one for his house and keep looking on Craigslist and Marketplace and I keep finding them for less than $100, which is a bargain. My breaker box is surface mounted in the garage so I just mounted to wall and used one knockout on the breaker box to connect. I did drill a hole through concrete block to mount the L6-30 plug on the outside. That wasn't essential, I did it for aesthetics. If your breaker box is flush mounted then, yeah, you will need to cut away a little drywall.

RodGriTV thank you for the kind words. It is our desire to entertain and provide pertinent and timely information and to keep the production value high.

Hurricane: Prepare to Survive you did a Great Video! I really appreciate it all the info. 🙏🏼🤙🏼

Thank you for sharing that.

Thank you.

Good question. You are the first person to notice that. I will take it up with the graphics department.

@@hurricanepreparetosurvive5740 I went to the RU-vid app just to comment on this as well... it says it at the beginning and at the end 🤣

Chavez & Sons Auto Detailing - L 22.5” W 21.1” H 21.43” weighs 128 lbs

@@hurricanepreparetosurvive5740 Thanks

I have not done away with the old generator. It is still in the garage and I service and test it regularly. It is a workhorse, for sure. My biggest reason for the upgrade was to better handle the massive amount of electronics I now have as essential in case of a power outage (computers, home entertainment system, washing machine, microwave, two refrigerators and other items). The old genny has a lot of fluctuation in voltage. I can only imagine there is a lot of frequency noise that could damage sensitive electronics. For the record, I am looking at the next upgrade as there are a few even larger inverters on the market. The reason the old genny runs rough in this video is because it is not happy running without a load. It runs smooth as glass, even with a small load applied.

@@kensmith4627 awesome always a good idea to have a backup

Russ Fleetwood thank you for the kind words. That is our goal. We have five more in the pipeline, hopefully releasing them in the next couple weeks.