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Well, it's halfway through leaf pickup season and I'm debating whether it's worth it to buy a power vac collection unit. After a lot of surfing and reading comments I'm favoring getting a Cyclone Rake.
Problem is, they're very expensive (about $2k for the one I want, with some of the upgrades), and trying to find a used one for sale right in the middle of leaf season is not panning out too well.
If anyone has a Cyclone Rake and is thinking of trading in or up, I'm in the market. PM me if so. (I'm near Rochester NY)
Any suggestions on other places to find these besides eBay / Craigslist?
Both eBay and Craigslist are a bust on this item right now. The few I've found are either already sold (many people don't bother taking their ads down off Craigslist when the item sells) or somebody wants close to retail price for a 5-year old unit. Sorry, if I'm going to pay near retail prices I might as well pay a bit more for a new one, get a unit with no worries about how it was treated, and get a warranty to boot. Per a Cyclone Rake rep the warranty is not transferrable so even a "new in box" sold by private seller would have zero warranty, which lowers it's value significantly for me.
One thought was I could use that CraigsHelper website (another great tip I picked up on MTF!) to cover the entire US to increase my chances of finding one, then pay a shipper to ship the thing. Any idea what kind of shipping cost I'd be in for? I've heard it breaks down to 4 or 5 boxes, and probably like 250 lbs total I would guess. I shipped a 630 lb tractor 1000 miles for $480 so I would imagine shipping for a Cyclone Rake would be a lot less than that.
I'm also thinking I may just ride this one out and wait for better availability / discounts in the off-season. But that also means I'd have to go face the leaf pile mano-a-mano... sigh.
Problem is, they're very expensive (about $2k for the one I want, with some of the upgrades), and trying to find a used one for sale right in the middle of leaf season is not panning out too well.
If anyone has a Cyclone Rake and is thinking of trading in or up, I'm in the market. PM me if so. (I'm near Rochester NY)
Any suggestions on other places to find these besides eBay / Craigslist?
Both eBay and Craigslist are a bust on this item right now. The few I've found are either already sold (many people don't bother taking their ads down off Craigslist when the item sells) or somebody wants close to retail price for a 5-year old unit. Sorry, if I'm going to pay near retail prices I might as well pay a bit more for a new one, get a unit with no worries about how it was treated, and get a warranty to boot. Per a Cyclone Rake rep the warranty is not transferrable so even a "new in box" sold by private seller would have zero warranty, which lowers it's value significantly for me.
One thought was I could use that CraigsHelper website (another great tip I picked up on MTF!) to cover the entire US to increase my chances of finding one, then pay a shipper to ship the thing. Any idea what kind of shipping cost I'd be in for? I've heard it breaks down to 4 or 5 boxes, and probably like 250 lbs total I would guess. I shipped a 630 lb tractor 1000 miles for $480 so I would imagine shipping for a Cyclone Rake would be a lot less than that.
I'm also thinking I may just ride this one out and wait for better availability / discounts in the off-season. But that also means I'd have to go face the leaf pile mano-a-mano... sigh.