...........I've placed an order with a company on a new model and theyre taking forever to get it here and i could still cancel the order at this stage....but i noticed the local futureshop has a refurb on this Fuji S700 and its the same price as what im getting the new 1 for only prob is the warranty is only now for 90 days. SO ARE REFURB CAMERAS NOT THE WAY TO GO, DO THEY GENERALLY NOT TURN OUT TO GOOD ...OR SHOULD I CHANCES ARE BE OK? A refurbished camera can come about as a result of several things.
It can be a return. Manufacturers will loan their products to photographers and reviewers for a while. When they come back they鈥檙e not new any more of course so the manufacturer cleans them up and wholesales them a lot cheaper as a refurbished camera. If a camera followed that route chances are it鈥檚 an excellent camera and the manufacturer usually stands behind it too by offering a full warranty.
A refurbished camera can be a warranty return. Many manufacturers, rather than fixing your camera if it failed in the first few weeks will simply replace it for you. But of course that leaves them stuck with a bad camera. Those cameras are often wholesaled to a repair facility or sent to the manufacturer鈥檚 repair facility. Either way, eventually they get fixed, cleaned up and sent out as refurbished cameras at a lower price. Usually these come with a ninety day warranty though sometimes manufacturers will offer a full warranty instead.
A refurbished camera can also be a bad production run. Sometimes in a production run you end up with a bad product. Once in a while that鈥檚 a single unit, other times is can be dozens or hundreds depending on what went wrong in the manufacturing. These, like the warranty repaired ones usually get fixed and are then sold as refurbished. Usually these come with a ninety day warranty though sometimes manufacturers will offer a full warranty instead.
And a refurbished camera could be one that is off spec. What that means is simple. Each component of a camera has a specific specification in terms of tolerances, performance, longevity and so forth. When all the parts meet specifications you have a camera that is exactly the quality the manufacturer intended. Unfortunately once in a while a supplier messes up and sends a component that is below specification and it ends up in a production run. Because there are one or more parts that are not up to specification, manufacturers will usually dump these onto the market as refurbished as well.
The problem with those is that it depends on what鈥檚 off spec as to whether it鈥檚 an issue. If the camera casing was the off spec part, chances are it鈥檚 simply a bit more fragile now and will break more easily if dropped but the rest of the camera is perfect. That kind of a thing is low risk and you could get a super deal. On the other hand the off spec part could be electronic and as a result it could suddenly fail without warning. That clearly is a high risk product for the consumer. The manufacturer will offer a warranty with the product, sometimes ninety days sometimes a full warranty, it depends on what鈥檚 off spec. Basically the manufacturer will not warrant a length of time over which the part may fail. So if there鈥檚 a ninety day warranty, odds are that the manufacturer is gambling that the sub standard part will survive at least ninety days before it will fail.
So that鈥檚 what refurbished cameras And products are all about. The manufacturer will not tell you what is wrong with the device that resulted it in being dumped as refurbished and as a result the retailer also can鈥檛 tell you. You simply have to take a chance as you do on a lottery ticket, it鈥檚 simply at a higher price.
Should you consider buying one? I guess the only answer I can offer is to ask how lucky you feel. Clearly many refurbished products are as good as new and will last as long as one bought for full price. But others could fail without warning all of a sudden and usually outside the warranty period. Now that鈥檚 not necessarily a bad thing. It depends. If you鈥檙e getting it for half price and you can get a year or two of use out of it before it fails, it鈥檚 still a good deal. On the other hand if you can only get a few weeks or months out of it then you鈥檝e lost.
I have bought and do continue to buy some refurbished products. I usually go for stuff that is not critical, stuff I can live without if I have to. Cameras are not in that list, to me a camera has to perform reliably at all times but that鈥檚 just me. On the whole I鈥檝e done reasonably well, I鈥檝e had the odd thing fail after a few uses and I鈥檝e had most things survive for months and years easily paying for themselves.
Either way, you will have to decide whether the risk is worth the savings.
I hope this helps a little. I don't know for sure, but I just bought a new camera for under $250 and am happy with it. Yeah, they are the way to go, the company fixes them and cleans them like they were new.
I bought a few refurbished items, and could swear they were never used before. I've never bought a refurb camera but have had luck with other refurb items. Refurb is always a crap shoot.
Why would you wnat to pay the same for a refurb as you can get a new one? |
