Man, garage sale power tools are always a gamble. I got a used electric chainsaw at a flea market for 30 bucks once and it ran great for about a week before the chain just flew off into the bushes and I never found it. Something about buying small engines secondhand, you never know if the last guy ran it dry or let it sit for years with old gas gumming up the carb. Nine minutes sounds about right for a Reno special though. Maybe the seller knew exactly why they were getting rid of it.