Grizzly Sale?

[ATLGA]

I know they have tent sales but those are 1000 miles away. Do they have any regular sales coming up? I called them and the lady I talked to had no idea. Is there a way to find out other than that?

JDT :P

[Brian_Rhoad]

Check tgeir web site. THey have spacials and an outlet store.

http://www.grizzly.com/

[Woodey]

I usually get sale flyer/book around September and then again in December.

[jcbrotz]

I'm going to Muncy in a couple hours for a cabinetsaw. I have found that the "sales/specials" can be found in woodworking magazines the best is normaly only 25-50 off, but it helps alittle. sign up for a news letter/mailing list online and you will get some also.

[SwampDonkey]

I would find which outfits sell them online.  I think it is like buying tires, the sales are through the dealers. I bought a General International drill press for instance and it was on sale at Sears $160 off. I suppose near the big cities there are repo auctions or bankruptcy auctions. Nothing like that around here much. We don't have any cabinetry shops, just small carpentry and hobby shops that aren't likely to have an auction or rarely. And most of the stuff gets hauled off miles away for such auctions.

[Bibbyman]

Mary and I went to one tent sale.  It will be our last one. 

Nothing like I expected.  There were 3-4 large tents set up in the parking lot and a warehouse quantity of stuff arranged inside.  Each item had a tag with the id number and price and what was wrong with it – returned, missing parts, damaged, etc.  I think it was all sold as is – no warrantee.

Hundreds of customers were massed outside the fenced off tents.  They gave a signal and all hell broke loose.  People flooded in and started yanking tags off stuff.  That's the way it worked.  You pull a tag off an item and take the tag to the checkout.  Anyway, either they didn't have what we came for or it'd already be snatched up so we were pretty much just pushed along with the crowd.  I was in front of some dust collectors in the boxes when a guy came along asked what they were.  I told him.  He started yanking the tags off all of them.  I was holding onto a tag of a 2hp collector and pulled it.  I don't remember.  It was a good price. 

The dust collector just said "damaged".  The box showed no damage and looked like it had not been opened. When we got it home and set it up,  it looked like maybe it'd got wet as there was some light rust here and there.  Worked fine.

It was pretty much over in the first stampede.  So if you're going for a specific item, good luck.

[Al_Smith]

I too only attended one of those "sale " events .It was pretty much an event such as PT Barnum might have dreamed up had he still been among the living .

In my case about 5 minutes of mulling over a pile of imported junk I kind of lost interest and departed the circus .

Although I really don't know but imagine after they haul semis full of those treasure half way cross country the residue ends up in flea markets in Florida or South Carolina .Then after that flea bay .

[opticsguy]

I live only a few miles from Grizzley.  The tent sales are heavily attended and some families or "groups" spend all night to be first in line. When they open the gates, they run and yank all the tags off the machines then wander around checking all the mcahines for their best choices and later bring the unused tags back for the machines they do not buy. 

I have had good luck on purchasing two machines at tent sales but really do not bother going anymore.  I prefer to buy new with good warranty and nothign to fix.  Life is really too short to waste time on broken machines.

[Woodey]

Look in the front cover of Wood Magazine, They have a advertizement for sale starting on May 19.

Glad to hear how the tent sale works. It would be a waste of my time, I'm not a impulse buyer.

[Al_Smith]

Well you most generally won't do so good .I personally prefer 50 year old repairable stuff to 6 month old Chinese or Asian stuff that broke already and most likely will in the future and also likely won't be so easy to repair .

To each their own though .The way I look at it if it were such a bargain the sellers could have repaired it rather than sell "where is as is " .You're buying a pig in a poke so to speak .

Now if you want to get down to brass tacks ,Lowes and Home Depot have a no questions asked  return policy .They just refund the money and ship the tool to a recycle center .
These are sold with a new carrying case etc. with a warrenty as good as original for about half price .

A few years back I bought a Milwaukee 1/2" right angle drill for 200 delivered to the house which is cheaper than a worn out one sold on flea bay in as is condition .Bargains are out there you just have to sort them out .

[SwampDonkey]

I don't know Al, what isn't made off shore now. I can tell ya though, I have a 20 year old planer that was made off shore and I can still buy parts because I just fixed it a year ago. Now it's not a spiral head planer, but does what I want and has paid for itself many times over.  8)

Try getting parts for Delta, I tried and said there was a nation wide back order and no clue when or if you could get parts. The parts for the handles on my lathe were out of inventory. But I later figured out I could get handle parts from other manufacturers like General that fit right on the lathe and are actually better handles. But have not ordered any yet.

[Tom the Sawyer]

I have never been to a Grizzly tent sale and it doesn't sound like I would enjoy it.  I do, however, have quite a few Grizzly tools in my shop and have found them to be of excellent quality although the finish may be a little rough.  They have been accurate, solid, and any parts needed were shipped quickly.  If you go to the showrooms during non-tent sale times, they usually have a scratch/dent area where there are some excellent deals and you can take as long as you want to inspect them.  I have also had salesmen help out who had access to other deals that hadn't been put out yet.

[ATLGA]

Hey fellas thank you for all the insight. I called Griz again to ask about the mentioned upcoming sale. They again said they have no idea about a sale.... I also took another look through the used machinery websites and "saw" a few 75 year old saws that looked looked like good "Diehls"  ;D

[Tom L]

I don't buy any machines from Grizzly anymore. see the problem is that the machines are all imported and if they choose not to carry them , or the factory finds something better to do they discontinue the machines
happened to me with a sander I purchased from them. I needed some parts a year after I bought it and they discontinued the model. could not buy the parts. they don't where you can buy the parts . so a one yr old machine I had to make the parts to fix it. and to go to a tent sale and buy something that they are for sure discontinuing and are getting rid of the product line. better to buy equipment off of a manufacturer that will be around and willing to service an older machine.

[Ironwood]

I too have heard this about no parts support for VERY recent machines sold by Grizzly that have been discontinued. I too perfer old American iron. One challenge we have found with many Grizz stuff is weak electronics, and if it is not a "integrated" starter or something you can replace it with American , but MANY MANY of the new pieces are fairly complicated and intergrated electricals. One buddy got a "Tent Machine", and the electrical part was backordered 10-12 months. FYI. I have two friends who have attended those sale in Muncy. Not for me. ...........


IRONwood.   . 

[sgschwend]

Actually I have done quite well at the Bellingham Tent Sale.  We normally only arrive about 30 minutes before the sale starts and end up behind about 150 people. 

It does pay to know what you are looking at, and how to navigate through the layout.

Here is my strategy: before the sale starts find the location of the machines I want to obtain.  Then when the gate opens go straight there, it is likely that their is enough time to hit a couple of locations, but the EVIL EBAY folks have found these sales and will come through and strip the sale slips clean (special place in hell for those folks).

I have found that it is not necessary to read the defect list, it is likely not accurate anyway.  Just find the machine, accept or reject the price and move on.

My next move is to look for opportunity items.  Stuff like metal shears, floor jacks, metal breaks, machine dollies, sanding machines, grinders and snag the ones that have a nice low prices. 

I end my hunt looking at table items which have been setup by the entrance to waylay all those starry eyed buyers.  I have done well picking up drill indexes, or Forstner bits, cordless drivers and small tools.