Are Manufacturer refurbs a golden ticket?

spongo

spongo

Messages
69
Name
Jon
Edit My Images
No
Right, here we go again in my quest for the perfect first DSLR purchase.

:thinking:

I've seen D90 Nikon 18-105 vr refurbs on fleabay with 1 year Nikon warranty for £615.00. What are the possible pitfalls for a newbie? Is this really the golden ticket that it seems? Has anyone purchased one of these and had a good/bad ride?
 
There was a post similar to this yesterday, and Ill say the same here as I did there.
In my view an Manufacturer refurb is a sfer bet than buying off the shelf. A shelf bought camera has had basic QC tests, and then been sent out. A refurb has had basic QC checks, then been sent back to Nikon for more rigerous testing, had any problems fixed and then been sent out again.

Ive bought 4 Canon refurbs, 1 about 6 years ago which is still working fine and the rest have been sold on over time.
 
I guess my primary concern would be that, as the Nikon warranty is 2 years, there is a slim chance that you'd get a camera that had maybe a faulty sensor replaced, but lots of wear on the shutter. Could this be the case?
 
I wouldnt think so, but who knows. All my refurbs have had less than 200 shots on them according to the exif.
I would think if a camera had come in with a faulty sensor and had loads of shots, they would replace the entire shutter and sensor bits.

Isnt the D90 warrantly only 1 year? Used to be when I bought mine.
 
spongo said:
Has anyone purchased one of these and had a good/bad ride?
Click to expand...

TCR4x4 said:
In my view an Manufacturer refurb is a sfer bet than buying off the shelf. A shelf bought camera has had basic QC tests, and then been sent out. A refurb has had basic QC checks, then been sent back to Nikon for more rigerous testing, had any problems fixed and then been sent out again.
Click to expand...

TCR4x4 said:
All my refurbs have had less than 200 shots on them according to the exif.
I would think if a camera had come in with a faulty sensor and had loads of shots, they would replace the entire shutter and sensor bits.
Click to expand...

I've had four (five if your count the wee 2100 Coolpix many moons ago) official Nikon refurbs, so I'll share my experiences.....

Coolpix 2100. This came direct from Nikon to replace a faulty camera that was part of a Tiny PC package. It was scratched and the usb port to download the images failed after two weeks.

D50 - bought from Tecno/Jessops, perfect, under 200 actuations

D50 (2) - bought from SRS Microsystems.2400 actuations showing, filthy sensor, SD card in slot with someone's pics on it. HK battery (original stolen by SRS)

D300 - bought from Jessops. 3500 actuations, AF motor dead. Returned

D40x - Sold to me as new by Protech, sold to them by Warehouse Express as a Nikon Refurb -3500 actuations. Returned.


The first two cameras were refurbished by Nikon themselves, the rest by JPSolutions, who are now Nikon's official reconditioner. The D300 appeared fine if it was tested without a lens attached, so given that and the condition of the D50 (2) I'd hazard a guess that the refurbishing now process consists of no more than a cursory check over to see if the camera fires before it gets sent back out for resale.

Would I buy another one? No, for the sake of saving maybe £100 all you are effectively doing is buying a secondhand camera with a year's less warranty.
 
Last edited:
Ok in spirit of fairness Ill share mine.

1st : Canon compact thingy, official refurb. Arrived looking like new, no fingerprints, dust or grime. Still working fine to this day

2nd: Nikon D200: Had 98 shots on it, all acesories still sealed, no dirt or grime or fingerprints. was my workhorse for several years with no issues at all.

3rd: Canon SX1 IS: Official Canon refurb, looked as new as a shop bought one bar a bit of white dust coming out from the lens barrel on occasion. (drugs mule??) All accs.sealed and brand new. Cost almost £200 less than new with 1 year warranty.

4th: Canon 50D: 150 shots, camera mint condition, dirt free, protective cover on LCD all boxed accs, although the charger is a USA one, but adapter inlcuded. Inlcuded some warranty also. Cost £150 less than the cheapest new one.

Would I buy again...Absolultely.
 
Last edited:
Three out of four of those are Canons though, which isn't really relevant if the op is after a refurbished Nikon. It also depends on when you bought the the D200 too.

The problem, as stated above, is that Nikon have now farmed out the reconditioning process to JPSolutions, who seem to consider "refurbishment" to mean a wipe down with a damp rag.....
 
The D200 was about 7 years ago. I know most of mine were Canon, but I was just giving my view on my refurb experience.
 
TCR4x4 said:
The D200 was about 7 years ago. I know most of mine were Canon, but I was just giving my view on my refurb experience.
Click to expand...

That'll have been a "proper" Nikon refurb, carried out by Nikon themselves then, not a JPS one. Unless the Canon and Nikon refurbs have been carried out by the same company then you're comparing apples with oranges.

Having said that I've seen Canon refurbs (from their Ebay reseller) that were still faulty, so it may well be that they too just give their returns a cursory inspection and ship them back out as "refurbished" if they appear okay.

I've also seen Jessops/Sony refurbished cameras that came with a list of the work done, which at least lets you know that they have actually been repaired.
 
All new nikon bodies have a free extra years warranty if they are registered within 30 days of purchase.

This alone to my mind makes a new purchase the better option.

With ebay and some retail sites such as those offering the free 5yr warranty, the old adage " all that glitters isn't always gold" really does apply
 
i posted a similar question yesterday,and after a lot of thought i think i will bite the bullet and buy new,just for the piece of mind with the warranty,i have been watching the d90 body go on ebay for £500 so in my mind i think i would rather pay the extra, even for future resale value if i find i dont get on with it
 
Last edited:
reedwarbler said:
i posted a similar question yesterday,and after a lot of thought i think i will bite the bullet and buy new,just for the piece of mind with the warranty,i have been watching the d90 body go on ebay for £500 so in my mind i think i would rather pay the extra,
Click to expand...

Jessops had refurb D90 bodies a few weeks back at £300, now at near enough 50% of the new price it has to be worth a punt (plus you can always return it under the Jessops 30-day no quibble warranty), but if as it tends to be, the difference is under £100 I can't see it being worth the potential hassle.
 
Do Jessops have an on-line site where I could trawl for refurbs?????? At 300 shots, I'd take a chance from them with 30 days for a rebuttle.
 
spongo said:
Do Jessops have an on-line site where I could trawl for refurbs?????? At 300 shots, I'd take a chance from them with 30 days for a rebuttle.
Click to expand...

The refurbs, when available, are listed in the clearance section on the website. A lot of the stuff used to go to the shops for resale, but from what I've been told it's all going up on the website from now on.
 
I have had 3 refurbs from eBay (Digigood) Canon 350d(Rebel XT) Canon 450d(Rebel XSi) and Olympus EP-1 and all 3 have been superb (touch wood)..

only downside has been they are US models so a camera shop/cex etc... are not going to take them in for exchange, and you only get 3 month seller warranty but they were superb prices and it sure beats buying used off eBay with x amount of actuations/use and 0 warranty.
 
I had a Canon 5D mk1 + 85mm f1.2 "kit" from the canon ebay shop at a very good price.

The body looked perfect but had fluff in the viewfinder. I sent it to H Lehmann for a good FoC clean.

The lens was in a sealed box and was mint.

I'd buy refurbs as a general rule because I'm a Cardi (= Yorkshireman = Scotsman) and I love to save a few quid if I can. As long as there's a decent gurantee you can't go wrong in my opinion.
 
Last edited:
I had 30D macro kit from Canon

It was good value, worked perfectly as far as that body can do, but had a few body marks.

100mm macro was totally new, still have it.

The trouble is currently they all seem to fetch high street prices on ebay.
 
One of my D3 bodies was a refurb from Techfurb (Dixons/Curries/PC World group).
Had a slightly biffed sub-command dial, which was fixed by Nikon within ten days and which Techfurb paid for upon reciept of the Nikon invoice.
 
I think refurbs are a good buy, purely as I think they will have had a more detailed inspection whilst being refurbed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top