Jeff Kerr
06-19-2006, 12:26 AM
Well I survied the weekend at the Grizzly sale in Muncy PA and thought that I would post my observations of the day since this was my first time going to a tent sale day.
Based on the previous posts that I read here at SMC I felt that we would be in for a very busy and crowded weekend. Knowing that we had to make the long trip, 7+ hours, we decided to ride in style.
41168
We pulled into the location just a little after midnight the night before the sale. I expected to see a fair amount of folks in line already. I was pleasantly surprised. There were about 3 other camper vehicles in the lot at the time.
Sometime after that people started actually setting up chairs at the gate to secure their position in line. I would say that by 6Am there was a good fifty people or so in line.
41170
We got in line at 7AM and the gates opened at 8AM.
Now for the sale itself. There was certainly a great variety of items to be had.
41169
I was focused picking up a planer and a jointer so that is what I went after first. There was maybe 6-8 G0490 available. One thing I will say about the folks at Grizzly is that they take their time to document in detail what may be wrong with a machine. Not being a deep mechanical person I was not able to quickly determine what that defect meant to me in terms of repair costs compared to discounted prices. I walked past many of the machines quickly because of this. However, there was a nice gentleman just a few steps ahead of me that got reall lucky and picked up a G0490 whose only listed flaw was that a caster wheel was missing!! Now that is a bargain.
Things were pretty much the same for planers. There were a good number of machines to choose from I just didn't understand what it would take to repair.
Striking out on my first two wish list items I then started looking at other oprtions. By then however most of the items were snatched up. However, as others have posted here on SMC people change their minds and ultimately do not by the machines. So after the first hour or so you will see that some are kind enough to return the purchase slip to the machine so that others can take it if they wish.
I would say that if you do your homework and know what to look for then there are good bargains to be had. I saw one gentleman cart of two shopping carts of electric motors. Obvioulsy he thought they were worth getting.
Some of the other manufacturers were there as well selling new tools at discount. Dewalt had a deal on a 12" miter saw with the job site miter stand for $519. I wasn't in the market for one so I didn't pay attention to the model saw in the package but they had now problem handing them out at that price.
41171
I included a few photos of the tent area so that you get the idea.
Also you can see here that Grizzly is set up to handle the crowd when it comes to checking out. This is a picture of the line for the dedicated outdoor cashier building.
41172
It probably had 20 or more windows and they got you thru it fast. If you had large items that needed loading they had a very orderly line tha you could pull your vehicle around in and get your items loaded.
Based on the previous posts that I read here at SMC I felt that we would be in for a very busy and crowded weekend. Knowing that we had to make the long trip, 7+ hours, we decided to ride in style.
41168
We pulled into the location just a little after midnight the night before the sale. I expected to see a fair amount of folks in line already. I was pleasantly surprised. There were about 3 other camper vehicles in the lot at the time.
Sometime after that people started actually setting up chairs at the gate to secure their position in line. I would say that by 6Am there was a good fifty people or so in line.
41170
We got in line at 7AM and the gates opened at 8AM.
Now for the sale itself. There was certainly a great variety of items to be had.
41169
I was focused picking up a planer and a jointer so that is what I went after first. There was maybe 6-8 G0490 available. One thing I will say about the folks at Grizzly is that they take their time to document in detail what may be wrong with a machine. Not being a deep mechanical person I was not able to quickly determine what that defect meant to me in terms of repair costs compared to discounted prices. I walked past many of the machines quickly because of this. However, there was a nice gentleman just a few steps ahead of me that got reall lucky and picked up a G0490 whose only listed flaw was that a caster wheel was missing!! Now that is a bargain.
Things were pretty much the same for planers. There were a good number of machines to choose from I just didn't understand what it would take to repair.
Striking out on my first two wish list items I then started looking at other oprtions. By then however most of the items were snatched up. However, as others have posted here on SMC people change their minds and ultimately do not by the machines. So after the first hour or so you will see that some are kind enough to return the purchase slip to the machine so that others can take it if they wish.
I would say that if you do your homework and know what to look for then there are good bargains to be had. I saw one gentleman cart of two shopping carts of electric motors. Obvioulsy he thought they were worth getting.
Some of the other manufacturers were there as well selling new tools at discount. Dewalt had a deal on a 12" miter saw with the job site miter stand for $519. I wasn't in the market for one so I didn't pay attention to the model saw in the package but they had now problem handing them out at that price.
41171
I included a few photos of the tent area so that you get the idea.
Also you can see here that Grizzly is set up to handle the crowd when it comes to checking out. This is a picture of the line for the dedicated outdoor cashier building.
41172
It probably had 20 or more windows and they got you thru it fast. If you had large items that needed loading they had a very orderly line tha you could pull your vehicle around in and get your items loaded.