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#1
Beware of part time resellers that offer 210, 420 and 600 D or Denier fabric inflatables. These are the absolute lowest grade material possible. It is a pvc coated nylon. This is the same material consumer holiday lawn inflatables are made of. The kind you see at the supermarket around the holidays. They can not withstand outdoor use for more than a few weeks and are worth from $59 to $500 but are listed from $950 to $3500. These people claim to be factories, which itself is quite untrue. They claim they will beat anyone’s prices by 20%. What they don’t tell you is that they are importing and selling the lowest grade material and products possible and trying to pass it off as a commercial grade inflatable. Buyer Beware. Call if you have questions.
#2
It has also come to our attention that certain companies are falsely claiming to use 1.3 oz ripstop along with a slew of other untruths just to make a fast sale. Remember, if their website doesn’t specify the material weight and lettering material, chances are excellent that it’s inferior. 1.3 oz ripstop is very expensive. It is an especially tight weave and also has a UV and polyurethane coating. Some domestic companies are using a material that is nothing more than the inner lining of a wind breaker jacket and passing it off as 1.3 oz ripstop. Customers are getting fooled and ripped off.
#3
There is an influx of cheap and extremely poor made air dancers on the market. They are usually only available in RED, BLUE or YELLOW and are either without art or with pre-printed messages. They are being sold by anyone with an eBay account. Web sites are popping up all over the place. These range from people that sell Bouncy Houses for children’s parties, to cell phone dealers, to just about anybody with an email address and a computer. Even some otherwise fairly reputable companies have been quietly slipping these into to orders without advising the customer. One good way to spot it is if there is a large difference in price between a plain air dancer and one with art.
The quality of these units is below poor and if you are shopping hard, you will recognize them as they all look the same. Most of the photos show disfiguration where the arms attach to the body and they won’t be attached for long. Often the photos are taken in their home driveway or in front of their retail store (Cell phone dealers, etc.). Unfortunately that is your only obvious visual clue and even that can be hidden.
These fabrics remain very stiff. They will not dance, but merely tip over. They are going to blow apart in just days, or weeks at the very most. That is also why they often throw another fabric in for free. It’s because they are quite disposable , plain and simple.
They are offered on eBay. A number of web sites have recently popped up with them.
Even a few companies that normally offer quality products have been quietly selling them to reduce price.
They come with either no warranty or a 30 day warranty. That is because they will not last beyond that if used regularly.
They will usually come either plain or with pre-printed art. These companies offer YOUR artwork at an additional cost (often $300 more) and even that is done with absolute inferior material and workmanship. They take two weeks because they are made in China.
These units are purchased overseas for $20 and that is all they are worth. We use only 1.3 oz silicone and UV treated ripstop that retails for $12 a yard. It is the only material to use if you want an air dancer that can withstand the sun and constant erosion of the fans required to inflate them. That doesn’t even take the seam work into consideration.
We checked out the eBay reviews and they all said how happy they were, but many of the reviews were posted before the customer even received the product. Most importantly, you can not give any kind of recommendation on an air dancer until you have given it some use. The problem with eBay comments are that everyone is afraid of getting a negative comment back if they leave a true and negative comment. So everyone leaves each other mutually high marks. Unfortunately, the eBay review system is something you absolutely can not give any credibility to.
Some combine an over powered 1 HP fan with a handle and tout it’s patented design. The fan is simply poorly designed and requires 1 HP just to do the job of a 3/4 HP. It has no additional air flow. Other companies offer the industry’s best fan and tout their product as US made, when in fact only the fan is made by a US based company.
An informed shopper is a wise shopper. Don’t be taken advantage of. If a company does not specify it’s material rating or simply claims it is commercial grade ripstop you can be sure you are paying too much and getting an grossly inferior product.
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