Me personally, I never by AppleCare. I only keep my iPads for a year anyway and I'm waaaay too careful with my devices to drop them. I treat them like newborn babies.
Sometimes even newborn babies get dropped; there's a reason they're called "accidents."
The primary question is "does a warranty against breakage/damage warrant a $50/year surcharge - plus $50/incident against a repair that could cost $250 or more?"
The second question is "will the resale value of my iPad be enhanced in a year if the buyer gets a full year of warranty in the sale?"
Consider the money you save by not buying applecare a chip out of the upgrade cost next year.
I never buy extended warranties for electronics. They're one of the biggest wastes of money I can think of.
Not in my case. My macbook pro was serviced 3 times outside of the standard one year warranty and saved me the cost of a new machine. I've also had two iPhones replaced under Applecare after the one year warranty.
I remember sitting at the genius bar and the guy telling the customer it would run her $900 to fix her 2 year old laptop. It made more sense for her to just get a new one.
Did u get Applecare? Should i?
No.
If you can afford a frivolous and redundant plaything like the iPad you can certainly afford its replacement value.
BJ
Or put it this way. Does a possible, unlikely accident warrant $148 ($99 upfront + $49 incident) or 30% of the cost of the base model? For me that's a no, especially as I'd rather invest that in a quality protective cover.
Your math is off. If you don't need to file a claim for physical damage you're only out of pocket $100. And if you resell it you can recoup some of that from the buyer who will be happy to have a full year of warranty on a used item.