Recommended Atari 800 Price

[Imanbrooks]

Hello I'm trying to purchase an Atari 800, I think the design is super cool and the beginning of home computers and an advanced one such as the Atari 800 years before the Commodore 64 or VIC 20. I already have a working Commodore 64 with a SD2IEC+ paired with a Epyx Fastload Reloaded so If that helps to show my prior experience with retro computing. So on the the meat and potatoes I have a deal lined up with a local shop for an Atari 800 for $300 I haven't discussed other details with the shop owner, recently I saw that prices on Ebay have lowered since my original interest in the platform in 2020-2021 I have found a listing for a 800 with 810 disc drive saying the unit powers on and is in the box in what looks like great condition: https://www.ebay.com/itm/326105736862?itmmeta=01HWNWFNJTHY0R7GXN38VWKDVR&hash=item4bed6aa69e:g:rMgAAOSwdhtmLVl5&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAAwFzWoHtuemOwVB7Yj0Vk3OPzxTE9JKze4m51ifJ67GlnYAhpToDdxk9Rw19Au46wNyyBxcWJka7A%2B86XBTDaDZ%2F07%2BRBTqBI%2F0yFey3A5B9APEJOkd4m%2B4p3vOQw7xMahbOGojyjzrzGOZev%2FanJgOfH2mTla7NaYWwQ%2B4e6Qi0S7W%2B7738DMXic7Ze%2BsTJ1arLrJvX%2FWqvKOFxjEO4xdQ%2FiadBKdnyR9F%2BZupbocHIdswZzEPtNcVpNnPi5QOIA6Q%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR9DZvrzlYw

 

So I guess my question is are these reasonable prices and what should I be looking for in a decent model worth my buck?

[damosan]

The thing with eBay is that you can never *really* trust what you read...and you can't trust the packaging that people will use, etc.  There are many stories of people dropping some serious coin on a setup only to have it destroyed in shipping.  If I wanted an 8bit, and a local brick and mortar had one, I'd probably buy it.  You can have them plug it in and see if it works, etc.  This is so much better than the general "worked when I ran it two years ago." eBay listing.

 

I'll warn you in advance though - you'll end up with 3 or 4 Atari machines by the time you're done.  After all...you'll want an 800xl which is the machine for mods.  Then you'll want a 130 XE.  Someday you'll run across a 1200 XL...

 

The addiction never ends (I have 9 Atari machines - 8bit, 16 bit...all the bits).

 

[mutil8]

Shop oprion is worthwhile - you can test the machine before purchasing - request a short term refund option if the system fails within a month or whatever. good value at $300 if a disk drive and/or other items included.