Plate Compactor

[johnnylight]

harbor frieght asking $599 in catalog $699 in store.(seems high)

It's for home use 6 jobs re: plate compactor
renting would pay for the cost.

I would like to buy one used -- I tried craig list and local papers.

any suggestions.

 

[Jeff244]

johnnylight,

I've purchased many plate compactors over the years, mostly Wacker brand 20" wide. I seem to remember them costing around $1200.00 to $1500.00. They were used quite a bit and would only last us a few years at best. If you buy a used one, I would recommend buying it from a contractors supply store that rents them. At least you will know it was well maintained and may get a warranty. It will still probably cost more than the Harbor Freight one. Whichever one you get, be sure and check all the nuts and bolts daily as they do come loose often. The vibration really takes a toll on these machines.

Good Luck,
Jeff

 

[AlanB]

I went the HF route. Works for us. Thinking of buying their bigger one.

It is not a Wacker, but, at the end of the day, it works.

 

[johnnylight]

thanks jeff244 -I'll give the local centers a call

alan with HF what did you end up paying?

 

[AlanB]

I think it was $599 "on sale". My local HF will honor the price from a cat or printout off the website. Then I used a 15% off coupon probably for whatever that brought it too, I probably also bought the warranty at that time but do not know if I would bother with it if I bought another today.

My opinion at this point, they are really good about just giving you a new one or your money back in the first 90 days, no hassle.

My experience is if it works fine during that time, it is going to be fine, if it is a POS, then you know the first time or two that you use it, and usually what goes wrong, I would just as soon fix myself then to take the time and effort to return it.

For instance the bolt came out of the pulley on the engine of my compactor, made a heck of a racket, but a little loctite, a new bolt etc and it has run fine. They would have fixed it under warranty, but a little time in the shop and it was good to go.