Harbor Freight's Predator 3500 watt Inverter Generator is a great deal at $699. It provides 3000 running watts of power and can run for hours on end on very little gasoline. The build quality seems to be well above anything i've seen from Harbor Freight's generators up to this point. It is very well built and has performed flawlessly for me so far.
The instructions are typical harbor freight instructions, and they contradict themselves regarding the break-in service requirements. Of course, the generator should be ran on lighter loads for the first 25 hours, but the instructions mention changing the oil at 8 hours on one page - then say to 25 hours is the break-in oil change interval. To be safe I changed the oil at 8 hours. I'm glad I did. The oil looked about as I expected with a metallic sheen common on oil in a new china made engine. At 25 hours I was pleasantly surprised to see the oil was perfectly clean of any metallic flake. Not only that, but the performance of the generator up to this point has been issue free. I did change the spark plug to an NGK plug at 8 hours, but the original torch plug showed no signs of issue.
These generators do appear to run on the rich side when going from a light load to a heavy power draw, so regular oil changes at the specified 100-hour interval are highly recommended - if not sooner.
Overall this is a great generator thus far and I expect a long life from this product. More videos to come on the Harbor Freight Predator 3500 watt Inverter Generator, so stay tuned!
Harbor Freight 63584
