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Have you bought a refurbished product other than a computer ??

I

igmolinav

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 15, 2005
1,126
4
Hi,

Have you, or someone you know, bought a refurbished product
(other than a computer or ipod?).

How risky is it??

What I don´t like, is that bei many refurbished products, the
warranty is not very long, sometimes less than six months.

Thank you, kind regards,

igmolinav.
 
I've neer really bought refurbished but as I understand, the products themselves are repaired and should work like new. So basically to buy new, you're getting a longer warranty and by going refurbished you get a lower price but also a shorter warranty.

It's up to you. If you are uncomfortable with the shorter warranty, then you should probably get the retail item. If you don't care about the warranty or are okay with the shorter warranty, then the refurbished units can probably save you a little money.

Ruahrc
 
I bought an olympus e-450 refurbished from calumet. It was like new and came with both an olympus warranty and a calumet warranty. (saved $200)

I also bought my nikon d90 open box from amazon. Also like new and came with nikons standard warranty. (saved $300+)

refurbished is good so long as you buy from a reputable dealer and the item is refurbished by the manufacturer so that it carries their warranty.
 
A couple of cameras and several power tools, and my original iPhone. Most of the products looked like they were ever used at all, not a spot or anything.

Only my last powertool purchase, a big industrial hammer drill, looked like it was used at all. I suspect somebody bought it, did the one job they needed it for and then returned it.

Most refurbs are unused. Mostly display items, returned gifts, 2nd thoughts, etc. Only the the most expensive items can actually be repaired and resold for a profit as even an hour or two labor and a part cost too much. After all, isn't the labor for an iPhone something like $5.00, so a phone that was actually defective would just be trashed. Same for anything on up to probably MBPs and Pros.

The other good thing is that the items are probably at least checked to see if they work. I don't think anyone checks new computers, drills, etc. as they come down the assembly line.
 
carlgo said:
big industrial hammer drill
Click to expand...

hammer-drill? AWESOME.

anyways, I don't buy "refurbished," but plain old "USED." I have invested a good few thousand dollars in camera equipment, including bodies, lenses, flashes, stands,etc... and have been VERY pleased. I just make sure I try the product adequately before handing over cash, as well as knowing the sellers home address in case they pulled one over on me.

Anyways, refurbished is better than new anyways, unless you just want a never-been-used thing.
 
igmolinav said:
Hi,

Have you, or someone you know, bought a refurbished product
(other than a computer or ipod?).

How risky is it??

What I don´t like, is that bei many refurbished products, the
warranty is not very long, sometimes less than six months.

Thank you, kind regards,

igmolinav.
Click to expand...

The risk depends highly on the product, the original fault and the refurbishment process. For instance, a refurbished tripod is a pretty low-risk thing. A refurbished camera depends highly on what the issue was and how it was treated prior to going in to repair.

I find that most products outlast their warranty these days if they don't fail in the first three months anyway- but I'd balance the price difference against the risk.

Paul
 
I made the mistake of buying a refurbished Olympus camera on ebay a year ago. The shutter locked up less than two weeks after I got it. After hours on the phone to everyone I could think of, I finally gave up trying to get a it fixed or a 'new' one for less than i paid for it. At that point I tried fixing it myself but had no luck. What a waste of money and time to save a few dollars.

I'll never buy another refurbished product, but if you feel the need to make sure you get it from a reputable dealer.
 
I buy Refurb all the time.

I only buy if it says its a factory refurb however. To me that means it has gone back in (maybe it was broken) and checked out/fixed of defects and such. Actually I feel more comfortable buying refurb sometimes rather than new just because its been looked over and repaired if need be. My Canon 30D was a refurb with a brand new shutter in it (a better shutter than the original I am told? probably not though lol) and I haven't had a single issue with it what so ever. I would absolutely buy refurb camera body again.
 
I have two Nikon lenses (60mm & 70-300VR) that were factory refurbished from Adorama. Both work perfectly and spend a good bit of time on my camera. Unless I was looking for a "pro" lens and wanted the better warranty, I would absolutely look at the available refurbs.
 
Ditto on the Nikon Refurb lenses.
mine so far were 105mm Macro and 80-200 AFDN. Both, I have to say, were almost better than new :). both bought from Adorama and while it could be argued that sometimes their used/refurb products are not as cheap as ebay or other places, you get what you pay for from them.
 
Hi,

It is a camera the item I would like to buy : ) !!! It is the Canon 5D Mark II

I have seen different prices for it refurbished. I want to have a full format camera so I can use it with some nice manual lenses! But for that I need a full format camera like the 5D.

Mmmhhh... So buying it from a dealer, it doesn't guarantee that it was refurbished by Canon. You mean, they could have refurbished it themselves ??

Thank you again, I'll be searching a bit more. By the way, which should be a good refurbished price ??

Kind regards,

igmolinav
 
Bought a refurb digital back for a medium format camera, plus a new lense and a new camera body. Both the camera and the lense stopped functioning (separate incidents) and were replaced within 3 weeks under warranty. The refurbed digital back has exhibited no problems yet.... go figure.

I told the company that I had lost confidence in their products, and asked for an extension on the warranty for the digital back. I think I have that the extension - now that I think of it, I need to check with my dealer.
 
A little late to reply, but I bought a Nikon-guaranteed refurbished D40 kit from Adorama, and it has worked very well over the last year or so. I'm no expert, but I couldn't find anything wrong with it functionally or cosmetically, and it had a very low shutter count.
 
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