Deals and Bargains forum: Poll: Do you buy refurbished or recertified electronics?

I purchased a "CPO" Droid X from Verizon: same great warranty, but also carry the insurance offered. The phone didn't have a mark on it and has functioned perfectly, plus, what a price break I got!

Electronic and mechanical devices are often assembled with little or no Human intervention.

But when an item is 'Factory Refurbished' it indicates that someone actually tried to use the device and found that it wasn't working properly, and the device has (hopefully) been fixed.

It therefore means that there is a higher probability that the device was actually WORKING (after it was refurbished) whereas with a 'brand new' device you have no idea if it ever worked.

Also with a 'Refurb' there is a high probability that the latest improvements and upgrades to hardware/firmware/software are part of the repair.

So I usually don't mind a Factory Refurbished item... as long as it has a 'same as new' warranty.

Ralph Kalatucka
Los Angeles

Never had a problem. Saved a lot of money and from what I see, the only problem is that most refurbished products have little or no documentation that comes with them. You buy it and it's up to you to find the docs on how to use it. Quality has always been good.

Yes i buy refurb Dell computers and laptops from Ebay all the time,I never have any trouble at all.so i recommend you go to Ebay for your purchases... Thanks

When it comes to computers, I always buy new, mainly because I usually pre-order, or buy, as soon as a new model I want is released. I have thought of buying refurbished TV's, hard drives and camera lenses - but am afraid too, so again, normally buy new. It does seem like refurbs are a great deal at times - for example, I just got a Canon 24-70mm L series lens for $1399.99 new; a refurb would have cost $1119.20.

I've heard Apple and Sony have a good reputation with refurbs, so I might consider it some day.

I have purchased three items of recertified or refurbished products but only from the original manufacturers, direct from their website, all were very good, properly packaged and with decent guarantee's.

I would not be so certain of products sourced from a third party.

I had a Praktica digital camera direct from them that worked well for years until superceded by better technology .. it still works perfectly.

I would always be careful and stick to OEM for the source of the item.

Jason

I had to order 5 and return 3 to get 2 good ones. It was a lot of shipping back and forth with 3 vendors and took awhile. The 2 I have have been working fine for a few years at a cost of $100. each.

As long as the original equipment warranty is in effect then it's a good buy. I've bought floor models from local stores which are warrantied as new. I've bought refurbished computers from on line stores; same deal. If I need a new printer I go to the Epson Store and check out their refurbished equipment at a fraction of the cost of new. The other way to look at it is, because of the low cost, if there is a problem after the warranty is up, I'm still ahead of the game as a result of the low cost.

Refurbished items from a manufacturer have been great purchases for me. I do avoid purchasing items where the product in question has had lots of quality issues, but for popular items that are generally good quality (like iPods, something I have purchased refurb units many times) its basically just a discount. I've probably bought at least a dozen to twenty refurbished items in the last couple years and have had ZERO problems.

BTW I know that the topic was refurbished electronics, and this may be a bit off topic for CNET but another class of product that I have had great luck with and even better deals on refurbished items is - POWER TOOLS. I've gotten some amazing deals on great tools that were manufacturer refurbished, mostly pro-grade stuff.

Roger

Absolutely. I also agree with Ralph, as that is my thinking these days. What didn't work is now fixed. How many have had to return something new because it didn't work? I'll look to see if something is available refurbed, when I can. It depends on the product really. Also, it has to have the regular warranty starting when I buy it, not just a couple months.
If it's from a vendor, than it depends on how discounted the item is, if it has all of the paperwork & associated pieces. Most power cords are priced insane retail, so I am careful there. Just be careful of tv's & monitors, those I want to see working or be able to return it if there are some glitches. Just the other month I picked something up new, & it didn't work. It took nearly a month to get the replacement. If it was a checked refurb, it would have worked, & have been a lower price.

Yes, I really like the deals I get. Many times companies buy new equipment and sell the old to other companies that refurbish them such as gearxs.com, geeks.com, dell.com and several others. If you buy name brand and that company also refurbed it you get a decent if not great warrenty. Many refurbishers will give you a 30 or day warrenty depending on the price they move it at. In those cases I often get a 3rd party warranty. So far things have worked out great. Every so often things may not work out but I have A+/Network+/MCP/Brainbench Master Technician certs plus 28 years in the field before I retired. I still do part time work to keep myself updated.

I've bought several referb PCs (ie: via Ubid) and had good luck. Stuck to name brands (Sony and HP) and referb by manufacturer. Was able to get nearly state of the art desktops for much less than normal street price. Have not had any problems with them.

However, I also bought a referb TomTom GPS and it went bad very quickly ... right after the (referb) warrantee expired of course. First the GPS started re-booting when it got warm (not hot, just warm). Then when plugged into the the base unit, it would not link to the PC to get software/map downloads (failed to 'connect' with pc/TomTom and would not charge well either). Then the touch screen went into a 'get help' loop thinking that I had pressed that icon. Net result: I have a non-functional GPS and lost more money on 18 month pre-paid map updates as only got 1 or 2 to work. I have been looking for another GPS and now see mass quantities of referb TomTom's out there ... that in itself now tells me something! I now know there are lots of referb TomTom GPSes available but few Garmin, thus there seems to be a pattern that I did not know about the first time.

At this point:
1. I will be more cautious/hesitant when buying any referb product that has a touch screen (they can go bad quickly if abused, etc) or a 'unique'/non-replacable battery (ie: anything with a battery that can not be easily replaced at a reasonable cost).
2. I would also will more general research than I did before and I will be very, very suspect of any manufacturers product line that has 'lots' of referb's available (or compared to other manufacturers).

Ive bought the occasional refurb with mostly good luck. I won't do it unless the savings are substantial. for 10 or 20% off, it's just not worth it. it's gotta be 40 to 60% off or more for me. Also, I consider the warranty. If a one to three year warranty suddenly drops to sixty days, I think long and hard before I buy it. Yes, as mentioned, sometimes there are returns just because someone didn't want it and you're getting same as new. And, yes, you might be getting a unit with more thorough testing or one that was properly repaired. But, my big fear is that the product has an intermittent problem, or some problem in a feature that is buried deep in a menu, not often used. Then, I'll be stuck with a lemon and no warranty. I bought a GPS that worked fine for a year or two, then wouldn't charge properly. Turns out there was a cold solder joint on the power connector inside. Most people wouldn't be able to detect or fix this.

Everything I have purchased in tha past that was refurbished turned out to be junk! Lemons that had been returned and put back on sale without correcting the problem. Products from Technics, Sanyo, RCA all lasting less than a year. New products with a solid warranty is the only way to go for me!