I just bought a "Guppy" Carbon Fiber tank from Joe Brancatto over at airtanksforsale.com His are supposed to be the best. I had to call him 3 times today to place the order though... Long distance. He kept saying he'd call me back and he never did. After he shipped it, he left me a message at my home asking me to call him back yet again. He had me call him back to let me know he'd under charged me 10 bucks and to "just mail it to him" as he didn't want to pay the paypal fees... Which brings up another thing... He makes YOU pay his 3.5% Paypal fee. So that added ANOTHER $17.00 to the price of the tank ON TOP OF the $29.00 he charges for shipping and handling. 29 bucks to ship? Really? In other words, I paid almost 30 bucks for GROUND shipping from Huntington Beach to Cupertino California. That should have been no more than about $8.00 for a 6 lb. package. So, in other words, the supposedly $439.00 tank ended up costing $485.00 by the time you add up all his extra fees. At least the guy sent it out the same day, so that was good. But my overall buying experience has not been a happy one. I hope my experience with the tank will be better...
...video I did a few weeks ago..so what did it cost total for the ninja and lines? also will I need anything special for a firehouse to fill it? no dive shops in SE ohio that I know of....REALLY considering a PCP but sweet jeebus they are expensive to fill
I will admit that I don't have any personal experience with Joe Brancatto, but I have to agree with Lloyd and say that I have heard some VERY good feedback about him and his costumer service so maybe you just caught him at a very busy time .
I want to address both topics.First, pyroboy. I agree that the $149 for a new 3000psi scuba tank with K-valve is an excellent deal, but I think you would be disappointed in the number of fills, even if only filling to 2800 psi. If you can't afford a 4500psi tank, or don't have anyplace that can fill to that pressure (my situation), try and find a 3442psi steel tank. That will give you 4 or 5 TIMES as many fills as a 3000 psi tank. First thing to do is ask at your local dive shop if they have a used 3442 psi loaner tank with good hydro test that they might sell you for $100 to $150 (including the K-valve.) Talk to the owner or manager when they aren't busy and they might have an old mismatched tank that is plenty serviceable. Not nearly as sweet as a 4500, but a whole lot cheaper to get started.Next is for Bareyb. First Barey, thanks for not getting all defensive, because you do make some good points. Joe's stuff is top notch, he personally talks to you on the phone to make sure you are getting what you really need, because there are lots of choices and plenty of ways to order the wrong thing. But a lot of the shipping and fee info is missing and a bit of a surprise the first time. I, too, want to know what the total cost is going to be before i pick up the phone. But most of these specialty airgun suppliers are making these airgun items because they love airguns, not because they can make a bunch of money at it. They are small operations with usually no staff and the owner does pretty much everything. They might also have day jobs to support their airgun enterprise. I also agree that I like to see shipping and handling charges posted. But think about that $30 charge for shipping AND handling. To the $8 actual shipping cost, add$3-5 for packaging materials, 20 minutes on the phone talking to the customer, a trip (or portion thereof) to the PO or UPS, 15 minutes logging the order, invoice, packing slip, shipping label. Time to actually pack the item. It all adds up and is for real. I work for a large defense contractor where ALL of the charges are itemized and I can see how a $12 hammer can cost $300. But I think that most of the airgun stuff, considering the relatively low sales volumes, is pretty reasonably priced. But just tell me the bottom line price so I can place the order. Just my two cents.Lloyd-ss