To Buy Or Not To Buy

[soakinader]

And that is the question. Basically, this is the place to rant, rave, and ask whether a water gun is worth purchasing.

So to start it off: an ad on craigslist pops up with what I believe is the same person as three months ago, trying to sell their Max-Infusion Overload with the 3L backpack. And they want 35$ for the whole kit and kaboodle. What do y'all think?

My first thought is, they're being unrealistic. I would like to pay, say 20$ at the most, even then cringing a little bit. Although I wonder if they will even go that low. People buy things and then get stuck on that price when they go to sell, despite what everyone tells them.
I almost bought a Hydro Blitz + same backpack for 25$ at one point, so based on that I'm not even sure if this current deal is worth it.

QCF?

[HBWW]

This conundrum is something I'm facing constantly. I want blasters, but I know that I have plenty for my needs (hosting wars as well as attending community ones) and the rate of which I fix blasters is starting to be unable to sustain so many. Some blasters break just by sitting there over time. (Or more specifically, by needing lube and because there is none, the valve becomes stiff which means parts wear out easily.)

I'd much rather continue efforts exploring the homemades route. Build something once, build it right, and never bother with it ever again. Of course, it takes a lot to reach that level in the first place; it took me years to come up with a pump that actually works and lasts (most of the ones in the guides seem to work for only the person who wrote said guide), and I still don't have a CPH solution that lasts a decent amount of time. LRT is weak and breaks eventually, and I have no way of setting up a balloon-powered PC properly.

There's an Iron Man 2 still available on Amazon for around $20 combined cost/shipping. I want one. There's CPS's going around eBay. I want those too. I'd like a WW Python 2 and Cricket 2-pack as well. Mostly anything I don't have pretty much.

[Nemesis]

Around here they only have hornet 2 packs, but same thing i guess. I have a cricket 2 pack as well.

[soakinader]

I think you are missing the point of this thread. To clarify, the idea is for people to post specific things like "Should I buy this NIB Iron Man Blaster for 20$?" Pros/cons/opinions. Not just a general philosophical discussion on buying water guns.

[HBWW]

Everything I mentioned are important considerations that go into the decision to buy a blaster, one of them being whether or not the blaster in question has a place in your arsenal and if you have a need for it. If you're only considering the blaster and cost instead of the bigger picture, that's not going to do much to help you make a decision. (i.e. Does this $20 go towards a Python 2 + Cricket 2 pack, an Iron Man 2, homemade parts, or as part of savings for an eBay CPS? In order to decide you have to assess what you already have and figure out which you'd rather put it towards.)

Of course, that's not to say that we can't discuss the quirks of each blaster, but they aren't the only thing to consider. There's the occasional CPS 2000 you find for a steal, but then there's grey zones in the middle and that's where the other factors fall in.

[thelaminator]

The original US MSRP is $30 for the Overload+Backpack. Use that as your reference. that should be enough to help. As for the HB for $20 thing, that's an incredible steal, given most, lesser-informed, people see those and say "That's worth a good $60" and hit Ebay with the bomb. Don't use that as a reference, or any other purchases of other blasters for that matter.

[soakinader]

Hmm, good points laminator. Only thing is, the Overload+backpack cost more like 50-60$ here in canada brand new. I think I will send the guy an email, but for anything >=30 I can happily leave it alone.
Then again, I'm mostly buying it for the aquapack, so that's probably why I feel like I shouldn't spend more than 20 on it. Meh. You are right CA99, I have other things to buy!

Like an orange SC600 for 10$. I'll be picking it up in a week or two. Nice, eh? XD

[soakinader]

OK, guys I could really use some advice right now.
A NIB Speedloader 1500 popped up on craigslist, for 10$, and it's less than an hour away from me. Awesome deal, right?

Except the guy is kind of making me nervous.. here is what he posted:

You plug the receptable into your hose, the claim to fame for this model is you plug the front of the gun into the receptable for a quick reload.

Its old kids stuff taking up space. Take it away. Its probably 15" by 5" by 3" water gun.

Some of this so much more hassle than just throwing it in the garbage. Just dealing with everyone god damn busy lives. Just respond when you can pick up in the next 20 minutes. Make sure the hours are sat/sun or weekday after 5PM. Leave your number, i will text you exact adddress.

Its near bridgeport and road 5

Kind of scary. So what am I supposed to do? Drive half way there, send him an email, wait for him to respond with the address and then hurry over to his house?

*Edit*
So here I am, all riled up and ready to take action, tell the guy that Im going to pick it up tomorrow, no questions, no hassle, and I find out the posting has been deleted.
Now I'm sad. ;(