love that u still do videos. i got my storm cat for when the lights go out and i can make some coffee

Recently bought one of the new 9000 Generators. Haven't started it yet as the weather has not been very good lately. But, not that I really have a NEED for one of these little ones, I'm tempted to get one of them too just to have on hand. Thanks for the overview. Looks like a decent little monster.

Great job on this review.

inhave one of the old blue ones. i think its about 10 years old and never had a problem with it. i love it

I put one teaspoon of Marvell Mystery oil in mine per fill up and it runs excellent with no fouling. Mine is 5 years old, has over 1200 hours on it and not one issue.

I was hired away from a motorcycle dealer to work on industrial 2 strokes, as a rule they will out last a 4 stroke with proper fuel oil mix. The old Homelite model 9 was a 6000 hour motor, many ran over 12,000 hours.

Since it is a 2 stroke when turning it off would you recommend turning (closing) the fuel line and letting the fuel in the carb burn out to decrease a varnish build up in the carb. This would be vice using the on/off switch. thanks

Wow. It seems like they have improved some things. Looking forward to seeing a comparsion of the new ones with different model numbers.

My opinion is they steered away from the "Storm Cat" name because people were running the daylights out of them in emergency situations and burning them up."Tail Gator" kind of plants an image in your mind of using this generator in leisure situations. Like a tail gate party, small camping trip. It's all an attempt by Harbor Freight to cut down on warranty claims. Like your videos, professional and educational! Subscribed!

Can anybody explain why the manual says the spec gap setting for the spark plug is 0.0011"-0.0012"?

Where could you find one of those timers like you had on the red portable generator. Also what is it called

The design is very mature. These clones have been marketed under dozens of brand names and are made in by many different companies. Often the entire carb with interchange but say the needle inside is often different ,and the float and the bowl too. My Homier Tools 1250A was bought in 2005 and they had them for sale in their "harbour Freight in traveling circus tent" eons before I bought one. The markeing on mine says 1250 peak ie BS and is 800 continous which is a strench too. ie more like 700. Mine also has unregulated 12VDC to charge car batteries. Mine generator was 69.99 in 2005 and they were once 59.99 eons ago. The more expensive ones had the dual output ie 12 VDC

On the over spray ; Depends on the paint prep. and procedures, maybe the newer one is a more modern production method of powder coating vs. spray painted ?!

Do you think a person should change the fuel lines and spark plug boot? I mean since you said they were crappy.

How do you make the mixed oil

I suspect these things have been rebranded and sold all over the place. I picked up a yellow one from princess Auto which is like Canada's harbour freight about 12 years ago. Never regretted it. It has hundreds of hours on it now, always starts and runs fine on 2-3 pulls and does the job great! Lots of hate out there for these but I guess I got a good one. Don't get me wrong, I don't mistreat it, I don't think it's a nuclear power plant, I look after it, it runs 32-1 oil mix so I can standardize my pre mix to run my 2 stroke lawnboys mower and stihll blower outta the same Jerry can. Ive changed the plug out once and it starts and runs smooth and quiet even on the coldest days after just a few minutes of partial choke. Figure I got the one the supervisor put together by the book to show the newbies how it's done!

Thanks for sharing. it's on sale now and plan to pick it up. have an older one that knocks a lot. did your knock? what do you think of putting diesel after it has warmed up instead of of mixed gas? since 2 stroke engines can handle mixed oil than 4 stroke, wonder how it will go? of course the air fuel ratio May need to be adjusted. Please keep us posted. ☺

A good post. Harbor Freight tools are getting better. Iam going to possibly be buying a Tailgator ,but you have me confused, of which model # to buy. ??

How do I hook up a generator to my breaker box?

My Tailgator, the first one, ran fine until the carb leaked fuel. Was within the 90day initial warranty period. That means the 2yr warranry I got with the first one is not affected and it transfers over. So I got a replacement Tailgator with a new initial 90day warranty and kept my 2yr extended warranty. Harbor Freight has a great warranty program that builds customer loyalty. Kev, can you showis again how to add the hour meter to the generator and the sparkplug cap replacement? Lost track of that video, and also would like to know the name brand sparkplug replacement number.

Reminds me of my old Go-Kart..

Hi friends I think the coil is gone on my geni just died no spark to plug where can I get one

can you run a small window AC unit in a camper van like the small AC at Walmart for 110.00 bucks??

I have a question for you if you might have the knowledge to help with an answer. How long will the generator run on a tank of fuel with lets say 500 watt draw on it? Oh... and what is the tank size?

Ok, not sure why the guy is talking about overspray, I will tell you the REAL DEAL on these units-! About a 3 years ago I had my electricity shut-off.. trying to say my place, paying property taxes, either lose the roof or the electric. Of course I chose roof. Purchased a decent generator from sportsman's guide on 4 pay, she ran like a champ, even though from china. My brother also picked me up one of these little ones from harbor freight, (the red one) item# 60338. Does it work, Yes-! Is it loud for it's size yeah, Will it hurt you-? YES-!!!!! Initial startup on unit is fine, but after a short warm up, any restart attempt, for what ever reason this little monster back-kicks, and trys to take your arm with it-!!! Can't tell you how many times it almost or has dislocated my shoulder-!!! Where i would be laid up for next day or 2. Shitty design, something missing in desigh plans... causing it to back-kick after warm and she could really hurt you if you let it-!!! When I was younger my father told me about all the men when he was young who were one armed because the early model T's with the front crankshafts would backfire/backkick, and take their arms off-!!!! Again, design flaw-!!! Granted, it's a small engine, but when it does it, hurts like a bastard-!!! My brother didn't believe me and wanted to try it himself, but I refused to let him-!!! Didnt want a hospital trip or here him whine for days-!!! Now, she does run and i did use it for at least a year straight every otherday. Some days just needed a break from running the bigger one. Would run the little one 4,5, or 6 hours a day, mainly to run the fridge. And she did do it, but just barely. Fridge draw is 6.5 amps so I was pulling about 750 watts give or take, off course i was most concerned about startup. With that draw, was worried I'd smoke the fridge. But shes still running-!!! Would leave her plugged in for about 10 minutes first before turning on the fridge. Hoping the startup caps would charge... Little girl would do it though-!!! You will get the 110/115v pure sine wave out at 60hz and you can run all of you sensitive electronics on her fine, I have ran computers, scanners, radios, even microwaves, (as long as they're within the wattage range) without a problem, and for the price, it can be a Godsend when you are in a bind, but again please watch the back-kick of the unit when it is warm, because it really can hurt you man-!!! Good Luck to all and hope this helps-!!! PS: my unit manufacturered December 2013. Don't know if they corrected the problem.

I use mine to power rc car charges I run 3 chargers of at one time never lets me down.

I bought the replacement warranty on mine it was 24.99 for 2 yrs

where can I buy a new cylinder if I need one?

Can those power a 185w laptop?

Can this run a 13amp 4 1/2- 5" Dewalt angle grinder??

Where can you get an hour meter for one of these at the tailgater?

how many hours will that generator run before you have to add fuel again?

So you can't find storm cat or the blue chicago electric im guessing? The tailgator is the new brand name ? That's the only one i see on HF. Also curious why chicago is 800/900w and tailgator and storm are 700/900w. Where did the 100w go

Can you run a refrigerator on it?

Why would anyone want to mess with a 2 stroke generator?

The problem with this units, is the fuel; 50:1 1 US gal. (128 oz 2.6 oz. Very lean for a hard working engine. 10 hour none stop just to add fuel..goodbye engine.

y en español no tienen instructivo

As someone that has owned both I found that both were not worth a SHIT

Tailgator wath a inconvenient name.

these pieces of junk run dry at 4-5 hrs all the time and shake themselves to death. thats their major drawback. get a 4 stroke champion or champion clone for $200 (400 regular) on sale or find one online or in a pawnshop hardly used(theyre always hardly used) for $80-$100 bucks. read my maintenance tips below to rack over 5 000 hours on them

Stop it with those numbers.. can't keep up..😑

Made in China Now everybody can own One