Helix Wheely 5000

They worth either what you will pay or what he is willing to sell it for

My thoughts are about the condition 

he say it need parts and repair 

Unless you have parts or know how in fixing these units you will need a tech

So if you by it as is.... see what you can use it for e.g ,if it has an in put for a device like cd,mp3 or external cassette

Nice radio it's the biggest one out there 

Good luck if it doesn't work out I am sure there are more to be found

I am totally ok with running it with an ipod through the external input. The cassette not working is not really a big deal to me. As long as it plays clearly I would be happy and would not deal with refurbishing it right now. He wanted a ridiculous amount of money to begin with. I offered 500 just to see what happened and he went all the way down to 650. Don't know if I am foolish or not letting the 650 go by. The cost is in USD so that is why I am hesitating. The exchange rate is killing me right now. 

That's a heckuva unit to start with.   If the tuner works and the other functions are all working as well (minus the difficulties with the deck(s)), and there are no cracks/considerable damage to the case (appears to be in good shape) then I would say $650.00 is a reasonable price.  I've recently viewed two that aren't in the best of shape (missing buttons/cosmetic damage) and the prices were $999.00 OBO and the other had a starting bid of $379.99.  This one appears to be in much better condition.

I say save the money for these units 

Jvc m90

Lasonic-trc 935

Sharp ff 777

Cinion c100f or clairtone 7980

they are costly but are worth the money

if the one he had was in really good shape sure 

Take consideration the one you buy will be the one you will have

The above units are quality radios the helix looks cool but for sound and quality build their is far better ones

He says the only button that does not work is the play button on the one cassette decks. Otherwise everything else works. He countered with $575. Will post a few more picks. I was under the assumption that these were worth quite a bit of money. If i can pick it up i will enjoy it and it will probably be my only box for a long time. But knowing that I have the option of passing this along to another collector in the future and not losing a ton of cash would make me feel a little bit better about buying it.

The fact you can pick it up is nice 

575$ is not over the top

Good luck 

If you buy it don't forget to post so pic's

I'd go for it.  Clean it up and enjoy it.  Eventually if you want, you can get it (or get someone to work on it) fully working.  Though you mentioned you don't care much for cassettes, if you decide to move it later, FULLY WORKING in the ad always gets attention.  Cleaned up and fully functional you could easily sell it for twice what you are thinking of paying for it now.

Pickup is the clincher for me. For that price with no shipping headaches and customs fees....I'd say it's a fair price. Just be aware that his description of what's not working may not be the total story.

  Try it out locally. I can't imagine him having an issue with that. Call it a test drive. You'll get a better picture of what's the whole story.

Just MHO

nice how-to-make-a-price-for-my-box post. with a little help from my friends 

True samovar, but at the end of the day, it's ultimately up to the buyer. If they want it, they'll buy it. Any seller can ask what their worth, because any answer is purely speculative. Like antiques or classic cars these boxes only command what a buyer will shell out.

I know when I won my SK-95 I visited the seller and ask to test the unit. I found many details that were not clearly defined in the Ebay post and we negotiated a MUCH better price on the spot given the lack of info. It worked out for both of us. No negative votes, shipping headaches. 

i would buy it directly...

no questions asked,, working or non working..

if i think something is worth a high price i buy it..

i only live once...

I was trying to make a totally different point, with the help of X-Men II. To wit,

- can we really believe somebody who registered on stereo2go in 2010 when five years later he writes in his first (!) post: "Thinking about getting into collecting boomboxes" ?

- can we take him at face value when he says: "knowing that I have the option of passing this along to another collector in the future and not losing a ton of cash would make me feel a little bit better about buying it."?

- should we encourage him to help prices skyrocketing by saying: "Cleaned up and fully functional you could easily sell it for twice what you are thinking of paying for it now"?

Even if we can, I think that we shouldn't. I would refrain from offering my head on a silver plate to unscrupulous sellers.

My opinion, of course. But even if I am utterly wrong, even if he's not the Jason Stryker kinda guy --a wolf disguised as a lamb--  there are too many lurkers here. They're all too happy to know that somebody is willing to spend $1,300 on the spot  for a Wheely. Rest assured that the next auction will start at $ 2,000

Fair points samovar. I missed the Stryker reference...my bad

Samovar 

Good luck guys to buy it for a "double price"

The cassette decks are very mickey mouse, however they are easy to repair or even partially replace..........these transport mechs are cheap & nasty & I personally am astonished at the values here - these are cheap & nasty stereos & in my opinion only useful for ipod/phone playback using Line In!!

Tell me to shut up by all means, but who would enjoy listening to as cassette for example recorded on a lovely high end 80's casstte deck played back on one of these??? These crappy decks have flywheels not much bigger then a two pence piece, often both decks use just 1 motor - wow & flutter is an understatement.............awful stability often kind of 'accepted' as the years went by!! Play a classical piece of music on one & you will soon understand why I have no time for such a piece of junk.........As I say, I find the 'Values' placed on these things simply staggering  I wonder what other members think about these units compared say to a quality jap model or say a Sharp Gf555......I just don't get why anyone would want a pile of junk like these things???

Am not having a go at any of you, I love you guys! I just struggle to see why some junk gets rated on here.........I know 100% that many of you especially those who stripdown & rebuild on here know exactly what I am talking about!! Love my music but if on cassette it must be stable with good separation etc.......All mu old recordings going back 40 years still play very well today - again it's quality tapes (BASF Chrome for me) that last & sound amazing still

Well, from my personal standpoint (without the experience of some) and taking the person's post at face value (without investigating) I gave advice based on what I've seen.  How much he sells it for now or later is really up to him, and you can rest assured whatever he sells that particular unit for will most likely go unless he gets really carried away.  After all, the junk M-90 I posted sold for $600.00 so regardless of the input/feedback here, you can be assured that you won't find many Helix Wheely 5000 units going for less than $1K and most likely will be closer to $2K.  Wasn't trying to encourage outlandish pricing.  That's already in place I'm afraid.

I do agree with the quality of this unit not being anywhere close to what it should be for the prices they go for, but then that trend started long before this post.  I personally am not interested in this model.  It looks cool, but the build quality isn't the greatest.

I'm still looking for this model, preferably the Helix version. Don't ask what a want to pay for it... that will be very disappointing 

Only scums encourage outlandish pricing on purpose. Normal people like you and me do it inadvertently. How? Each time we make an estimate/say how much we are willing to spend for a unit.

It is the customer who makes the market, that's a basic principle. Nothing is in place before we put it in place.

Prices spiral up whenever we encourage the process. One way is to make incautious statements such as "you won't find many Helix Wheely 5000 units going for less than $1K and most likely will be closer to $2K".

First, the above is your unverified opinion. Second, it is untrue even for current ebay hyper-inflated standards. Two examples: (1) one unit in overall good conditions is being sold right now at $999 or proposal. An absurd price yet lower than your estimate at $1,000-2,000 (2) one junk specimen --mind you, in better conditions than the dilapidated M90-- was being sold on the bay for about $300 or proposal about a couple of weeks ago.

I take your relaunch at $1,000/$2,000 as a figure of speech, ie an hyperbolic estimate suggesting that prices are bound to skyrocket no matter what.

Here comes the bad news: prices won't go up by themselves, they will because buyers predict so. It's called self-fulfilling prophecy.

I would be careful with whatever I write on this site that may inadvertently inflate prices. The market has no sense of humor. It just so happens that it loves irony: it never misses a good slapstick comedy when buyers put themselves at the receiving end of the stick.

Yeah I would perhaps pay a crazy sum for a beautiful sanyo mini for example.........back in the 90's you couldn't give tat like Helix away, I had a shop dealing with second hand stereo's & hifi separates etc - we would not even buy tat like that, however even in the early 90's we were selling boot sale bought Sharp 9191's 8585's etc for £100 minimum! People had realised back then how well made these things were & wanted them again!! We always avoided mickey mouse tape mechs for the reasons I stated earlier - I u/stand now that the crazy prices are already a reality & maybe not surprising for some!! I wonder how many folk really know how crap they are inside

The prices I've seen those units go for have ranged from $1200.00 to $2100.00 and those are not my estimates or me just blindly spitting out numbers.  They were fully functional units and in much better shape than the examples you've shown, which just happen to be current.  Both of those units were sold on eBay.  Let's face it, $999.00 is basically $1K.  I appreciate your points and they're duly noted, but I won't be chastised about what I can and cannot type in a public forum, short of violating site policy.  If a person is WILLING and ABLE to purchase the unit at those inflated prices you're going on about, then that's up to them.  If they're not, they won't.  They'll find a unit that's being sold by someone who hasn't bothered to ask anyone here what they think.  Again, the inflated prices have been going on for some time now, and I'm doubtful that my responses in this thread have had any significant impact on that.

A seller on eBay was attempting to sell a Matsuki MS-959 for $2500.00 in 2011.  I was not a member of this site nor even thinking of collecting any boomboxes at that time.

Interesting all the same Boeingman, just crazy values on what you really could stroll down to the Wednesday market & buy a wide selection of absolute crap for very little money

In around 1993/4

Hey guys just wanted to clarify that I am not a lurker or anything insincere. I joined the forum and followed it for a while in 2010 when I was thinking about getting my first classic box. Due to money stuff and bad luck in a few auctions i didn't pick one up then, and still haven't. I have been into boxes for years, and i have recently decided to buy one again. I don't have much spare cash so i will probably only get one box in the foreseeable future, so i want it to be really cool.  I am planning on keeping it forever if I am lucky enough to get one. I was just looking for a rational second opinion to make sure I didn't get foolish and overspend on a box I was in love with. I appreciate all the input and advice you guys gave me. I know you don't like to talk price because sellers base their asking prices off your discussions, which may result in price inflation. But honestly boxes will go for whatever people will pay for them. I believe the increase in prices has to do with a limited supply of boxes and an increase in collectors with disposable income. Wow that was a long explanation. Update on the box, turns out the guy is not within driving distance of me like I originally thought, which is unfortunate. I am going on a road trip near him in December so if it is still available then I am going to buy it. I will post pictures if I luck out and I get it.