So you’ve decided that you want a small form factor Media Center Extender but you don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for a used extender on Ebay? You may have come to the right place, as long as you have a little patience that is. The answer…Craigslist.
A few months ago I decided I wanted to use a 17″ Dell LCD TV that was just laying around my house collecting dust. The best solution for me since I didn’t want to run cables was to try and find a cheap Linksys DMA2100 or DMA2200 extender. After realizing I wasn’t going to be able to get a cheap one on Ebay, I set out to search Craigslist up and down.
As you probably know, searching Craigslist up and down can be somewhat of a daunting task. That’s were Searchtempest comes in. Searchtempest allows you to search all of Craigslist and then compile the results into a single list.
To start your search, go to Searchtempest and put your zip code in the box provided. Then slide the little red dot underneath the zip code area all the way over until it says “Up to ANY miles from zip/postal code” above the bar. Then you will need to plug your search term (”DMA2100″ for example) into the “Has these:” box in the “Keywords” section and click the big red “Search Now” button. This should bring up a list of all the cities on Craigslist sorted by distance from your zip code. However, if you click on the “Show all results in a single list” option that shows up just above your first city search results, it will provide those results in a single list so you only see results for whatever you searched for. Your search page should look something like this:
By searching Craigslist for an extender, I was able to find a DMA2100 listed for just $50. I offered the guy $65 to cover shipping and PayPal fees and he was glad to ship it to me. Since then, I’ve seen a few more offered around this price and one was even cheaper. If you’re not in a big hurry, you might just be able to get a good deal like I did.
