Canon Refurbished Products

[fezzr]

I did a bit of a search but didnt find much...

Has anyone had any positive or negative experiences with Canon Refurbished Products or are they really as good as new?

Surely they must be better than second hand?

:help:

[RKC]

are you talking canon outlet on ebay? if so 40d 17-85 is boxed with warranty for 600 quid last year is what i paid, and a few photography friends inspected aswell, looked brand new and results are as good as friends who bought new, so no faults that we could find

a good experience for me and big saving at the time approx £300

[Kdot]

I've bought from the 'Canon Outlet' on Ebay - not sure it is actually Canon themselves, but been very pleased with what I have bought (video camera).

[jerry12953]

Got a 5D + 85mm f1.2 at a very good price about a year ago. The lens was obviously unopened and I sold it on. The 5D had hair/dust in the viewfinder. It went to H. Lehmann for a clean, f.o.c.(in fact I think they relaced the v.f.).

So a thumbs up from me!

[Shutterbox]

Prices can go crazy though, seen a couple of 5D Mk 11`s that sold for over £2000 each.

[Vertigo1]

My first DSLR, a 400D, came from them and was indistinguishable from new.

They're not actually Canon but I think they're Canon's official vendor of refurbished stock.

[pete.rush]

The company behind Canon Outlet are Digital River, as mention, they refurbish most of the canon stuff in the UK, as for experience, bought the same camera from them twice, i.e. first one had ERR99 messages, so had to send it back, but thought I'd try again as friends hadn't had any problems with his previous and latest purchases of a 5D, 50D, 5D MkII camera's he's bought, so got myself a 1D MkII with years guarantee a couple of years back, low actuations, and almost as new, so pleased with the camera. As mentioned, be careful not to get into a bidding war, as you'll pay way over the odds if not careful, there are still lots of Noobs who will get caught up in the bidding war, a friend, actually mention, come 2nd, because he's still been offered the camera he was bidding on at his last bid, not sure how legit that is, but he got 2 out of 3 camera's that way.

[Merovingian]

Prices can go crazy though, seen a couple of 5D Mk 11`s that sold for over £2000 each.
Agree. It's that ebay 'I must win it what ever the cost' mentality.

[Edtog]

I sold my faulty 1ds mk3 via the canon ebay store, only taken 10 frames and the exposure meter stopped working so I can vouch for that camera. It went for £3000 :)

How do I know, well Canon forgot to wipe my details off the camera and the new owner rang me to see what was wrong the 1ds, so I'm guessing the others are of similar quality/age.

[chrisforshaw]

I think there have been concerns raised about the Canon Outlet on ebay and the over the odds bidding that goes on but apart from that I think the products are generally kosher. I bought a printer off them and to all intents and purposes it was brand new.

[Voyager]

In the past I've been watching some stuff on there an I do suspect that there is some shill bidding going on. After all how often do you get the same bids hours after an item is listed and then 'Bidder 1' hardly ever ends up as the buyer..... Sometime perhaps - but on every single item? Just seems a strangely complex and slightly dishonest way to get sales to me. :(

However, I bought a multi function printer from them and I could find nothing to complain about other than the box being a bit battered (and that really doesn't matter).

[justhitched]

I bought a refurbed 5DMKII & 24-105 f4 L from jacobs at the Focus on Imaging earlier in the year. Last month the lens went a little funy. I took it back to jacobs who then sent it back to Canon free of charge. Two weeks later I received it back all clean and serviced.

I would'nt have any issue with buying a refurbed item as long as it had at least a years warranty.

[markseventphotos]

I think when you bid on e bay,you got to decide what you want to pay,put in your max bid,then sit on your hands or hide/disable your keyboard.
if you don't win that item,they usually come along pretty soon afterwards,i have sold some items on ebay,for the same price as a "buy it now" or NEW item,BID Fever can Work Both Ways

[TCR4x4]

Ive bought a little compact camera, thats still going strong after 5 years, a Canon SX1 IS, that was fine, and in the last week a 50D, all refurbs from Canon.
The 50D had just over 100 shots on it.

In my view, a refurb is more likely to be less at risk of going wrong, than an off the shelf one.. Why?
Well, you buy one from a shop, its only been through Canon's regular testing, whatever that may involve, but Im pretty sure they dont throughly test every single unit they make.
You buy a refurb, its been sent back to Canon as its gone wrong. To determine whats gone wrong, it must go through quite a strict test and evaulation from an engineer. Once they find all the faults, they get fixed.

Its a bit like sending your gear back to them after a while for calibration and service, and you have to pay quite a hefty tag for that.

With refurbs, you are getting that service, plus a camera or lens for usually less than what you'd pay in a shop.