Looking for Working AG1970 or AG1980 Panasonic S-VHS VCR [FOUND]
 

I'm looking for a good working AG 1970 or AG 1980. I would also consider an AG 1960.

I would not suggest the AG1960 at all.

The AG9170 is just passable. Honestly, I'd not spend anything more for these than a good VHS VCR. Maybe $50 at most.

The AG1980 is the real prize here. It's the VCR worth buying. However you may have to invest another ~$300 on repairs, to get it in prime shape. Most models of 1980 have reach the decade mark, and are in need of new capacitors on the board. No way to avoid this.

JVC VCRs are more plentiful and have less mechanical/electrical issues. Only get Panasonic for SLP/EP mode tapes (VHS or VHS-C). You can transplant SP mode VHS-C tapes to VHS clamshells and use the JVC decks.

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I guess I'm resigned to try and get an AG 1980. Looks like ebay is a real crap shoot. I don't mind sending one out for repair. Do I just try and buy an old barnacle off of Ebay and then send it out for repair? It looks like most of them are selling for $200. So I need to spend $200 on the Ebay unit and then another $300 for repair/tune up? Maybe I can sell some plasma?

You just have to be persistent and watch all the listings for ag1980's every day on eBay. Set up one of the Saved Searches and have it e-mail you the new listings for AG1980 each day and review the new listings each day. Read the description of each one carefully. If there's not enough information to determine whether the deck is in reasonably good shape, then just skip it; there will be more later.

I spent about 2 months doing this, and finally came upon a Buy It Now auction one day for $100, shipped. The description seemed to indicate that it was in excellent condition, and when I received it, it was. It just required patience and persistence to find the right deal for it.

i have bought fully working Ag-1980's for well under $100
$50 is reasonable for a broken repairable deck
there is still demand and not alot of units to go around
southernadvantage(aka VCRbuyer) and the Av-Collection pricks (who have several other usernames) as well as a few others will bid up every cheap Ag-1980 that comes up for auction. so you just need to wait and get lucky on an under-priced buy-it-now

The average price for a good AG-1980P is $200-300.

A broken one is worth $75-100, and needs about $200 in repairs. Yes, an already-working on is overall cheaper, but also harder to find. Sometimes repairs can be even more costly, as much as $400. So it's always a gamble when buying units. Even "good" ones can go out soon, as those caps are all over 10 years old now, even in the last units that were built by Panasonic.

This marketplace was created as an eBay alternative -- no fees, no shill/fake bids. However, good VCRs go fast arounud here. You need to be really careful on eBay.

I am no longer looking for one of these decks.