I'm sure this topic has been discussed numerous times elsewhere. I've lurked for a while and have been working to assimilate the best advice, but I thought it was time to just straight out ask.

Obviously, it seems GPU mining is a thing of the past. I've been looking at dedicated rigs -> seems Scrypt and Altcoin mining is more volatile, but is a good method by which to enter into the process rather than Sha256 which is more stable but more expensive at the start.

In any case, the Gridseed Blade (even mutliple with RPi control) seems like the best overall option for Altcoin mining on a budget.

I have a few questions for which I'd appreciate the knowledgeable community's help in answering.

1. Would you all agree that gridseed is a solid option? (I know that Zeus is making some beasts but they run in the thousands-plus range)
2. If so, where is the best place to obtain a new (or new-ish) rig? https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=273148.0 has a list of stores, but I've been trying to find who's making new rigs and I can't find any. Are they not being made? Just some confusion
3. Any other bits of general advice would be helpful

Thanks!