Steinel heat gun
- Thread starter wmartin
- Start date
warmpancakes
Well-known member
link?
Carlos Iglesias
Active member
Got one for $25... will make for a nice back-up tool.
nicksnothereman
Well-known member
Meh. Can buy a new wagner crapper from the hodot for around 23 bucks (plus tax), I was just there.
People seem to swear by this brand but ultimately...a heat gun is a heat gun, it's pretty much a consumable rather than a permanent.
I rarely buy used unless I really really really want it. If I actually need it there's a 99.9% chance I buy it in store new or new via the internet.In The Doghouse
Well-known member
Got one for $23. I wonder what is the lowest he will accept.
This is going to be my first heat gun. I've needed one sooooo many times in the past, so I was going to get one of the Harbor Freight specials for $9 before the coupon expired.
Paid $23. I'd heard before that Steinel is one of the best brands you can get, so I figured I'd better not let this deal pass me by.
Paid $23. I'd heard before that Steinel is one of the best brands you can get, so I figured I'd better not let this deal pass me by.
bcradio
Well-known member
Meh. Can buy a new wagner crapper from the hodot for around 23 bucks (plus tax), I was just there.
People seem to swear by this brand but ultimately...a heat gun is a heat gun, it's pretty much a consumable rather than a permanent.
What makes a heat gun a consumable???
beamrider
Well-known member
Depends on what type it is. The type pictured above is actually pretty sturdy, but as with any electric heater, sooner or later the nichrome/kanthal coil will break. And of course there's the fan and motor. If it's one that looks like a hair dryer, the ceramic insulators inside will fail at some point from thermal shock, and the coil can break, etc.
Carlos Iglesias
Active member
Interesting, a couple of the above posts come across as if arguing that quality of design or construction is not an important purchase consideration in "consumables."
warmpancakes
Well-known member
grabbed the last one at 23.00
nicksnothereman
Well-known member
nah, what I was actually saying was that 1)heat guns aren't designed to last a lifetime (usually I use the warranty to determine proposed life), 2)buying a tool that doesn't last a lifetime used is never a good idea.
I wasn't saying it was junk, I was just saying that the life of a (modern) used one versus the life of a new **** one is probably negligible. 2-3 years of moderate use; might be less if the used one was abused. Different strokes for different folks I suppose. Quality of construction doesn't really matter when it comes to things that have a fixed period of usage including all power tools. You could get more or you could get less but ultimately they're going to do the same thing as the cheap paint stripper ones you buy for 20-30 bucks new.
Modern electronics (from the mid-90s on; if not earlier) have planned obsolescence. Designed to fail so you have to keep buying them. Doesn't matter if they come from germany, america, china, or the moon.
Am I wrong? Only if you don't want to believe what I'm saying.
nicksnothereman
Well-known member
Fixed period of life like all power tools. Repairing (i.e. fixing) costs more than buying a new one. That's what I call a "consumable'. Most things people think are 'capital' items (i.e. they call them "investments") are actually consumable items. Laptops, (most) cars, houses (to a large degree), electronics, etc.
They're not designed to last a lifetime. They have a fixed period of life. You can extend that period of life but generally speaking at the point that the lifetime of the item ends the repair cost exceeds the cost of replacement. Granted that period of time varies; with a house it might be 50-75 years and most people won't be alive long enough to realize that it is indeed a consumable. If the value goes down with age (wear & tear) it's basically a consumable; your use is the consumption.
I see what you're saying, but the end result of this is that practically everything is a consumable. You might as well buy the cheapest/just good enough of all power tools, appliances, musical instruments, cars, a house...in short, everything but financial instruments(given the avoidance of a currency collapse) and raw land.
In the world of www.consumablesjournal.com, practically all tools are bought at HF on sale (which really are decent enough for most use), all clothes are bought at thrift stores, all cars are old four door Toyotas, the Sysco-truck fed restaurants are just the thing.
Alternately, you can accept that some people buy 'better' stuff just for the sheer pleasure of it or because it's 5% better than something that's 1/4 the price.
Now, whether a $23 used German heat gun will last longer (or less) than the lowest end new heat gun is an interesting experiment. It's a pretty small amount of money to risk.
Carlos Iglesias
Active member
Unfortunately and as is prevalent in the Internet, many of the cost-benefit analyses of "consumables" above woefully lack rigor.
the spyder
Well-known member
Got mine today. Very happy with it for $23.
WRX/Z28
Well-known member
Same here. I offered $20, he came back at $30, I countered at $23, he countered at $32. I countered at $23 one more time and declined his final offer of $28. Too much for a used heat gun that's already a risk... IMO of course.
In The Doghouse
Well-known member
Received mine yesterday. Mine is well used, not as nice as the one pictured in his add, but it seems to work just fine.
warmpancakes
Well-known member
got mine today almost mint condition, works perfect gets real hot fast
Carlos Iglesias
Active member
... got it and it's best $25 I've spent in a while.