The sales pitch for advertising balloons is easy. What nobody tells you is what the next fifty weekends look like, so here it is.
The first time is the slow one
Your first inflation takes some reading. Expect to have the instructions open and to take longer than you thought.
After that it is about ten minutes and one person. That is not marketing language, it is the actual number, and it is the number that decides whether the balloon keeps flying or ends up in a box.
Ask yourself now whose ten minutes it will be. If the answer is nobody in particular, the balloon stops going up around week three. That is the single most common way this purchase fails.
The top-off habit
A balloon loses about one percent of its helium a day. Nothing fails suddenly. It just gets softer and starts riding lower on the tether.
Use that sag as your gauge rather than a calendar. When it stops looking taut from the road, it has stopped doing its job. In practice that means adding gas every three to seven days, at roughly $2.50 a day for a blimp.
Buy helium locally from a welding-gas supplier, about $300 for a 200 cubic foot tank. Do not order it online.
The rule that decides everything
If winds over 25 miles per hour are in the forecast, bring it inside. Not when the wind arrives. When it is forecast.
Wind is what takes balloons. Normal use does not wear them out in any way you will notice, and we hear from customers still flying the same balloon after fourteen years. Almost every serious loss traces back to somebody deciding to ride out a forecast.
Our warranty covers wear: if it wears out, send it back and we replace it. It does not cover weather loss, and no manufacturer’s does.
Ask for a quote. Call 1-800-791-1445 or email [email protected] and tell us the size and whether you want it printed.
More at blimpsforsale.com.