It seems since the OP started this thread that one of the Rippa dealers in GA - Robert Lee Ray has gone away from Rippa and over to Huayee as the primary North American distributor. Not sure of the reason, but while Rippa had a good reputation, it seems the quality has slipped a bit.
The initial big push into this market was 2023 timeframe with cheap gas 1 T units made by a few companies in China and labeled differently and sold by China sales agents with "offices" here like AGT and Typhoon etc. then thru auctions. There are a few like Groundhog and Kymron who basically bought the same machines built to their specs and offer a warranty etc.
Now the actual china manufacturers of these smaller machines are starting to build infrastructure here like Rippa Huayee etc. similar to XCMG and SANY did 5-6 years ago who are focused on the commercial machines.
So its a sorting out process and some will fail and others will survive as the market for these small mini ex matures and gets saturated here.
