does the word "refurbished" mean "crap"

[Big Mike]

Refurbished means that the camera broke at one point. The company took it back, fixed that part and is now going to sell it. Usually still has a warranty with it because it is "basically" new, but make sure it's someone reputable trying to sell this camera and not some person off the street. Hope that helps.

Doesn't necessarily mean that it broke...it could have just failed an inspection at some point on the assembly line. For example, imagine that as the cameras are being assembled, a little screw didn't go in all the way (for whatever reason). If they catch it, they pull it off the assembly line and fix it...but I believe that many places have laws/rules that say the product can't be put back into the assembly line and sold as 'new'...so it has to be sold as 'refurbished'.
Of course, that's a best case scenario, it is also possible that someone bought the camera, broke it and then returned it. But even then, if it's factory refurbished, it will be fully inspected before it's sold...which you can't say about every 'off the shelf' product.

[Ads]

[SoCalTiger]

Some companies also get rid of overstock by calling it refurbished. So it is literally brand new.

[Dao]

My 7D is a refurbished camera directly from Canon. It has about 1600 clicks and looked new when I received it. It come with 90 days warranty from Canon. If you get the Canon refurbished camera from Adorama, from what I read, they warranty it for 1 year. And someone from another forum mentioned they gave him/her money back when the camera had problem and they did not have one to replace with (maybe out of 90 days Canon warranty but still under their warranty).

Also, someone from another forum mentioned that his/her refurbished Canon had less than 30 clicks when received. And that, I consider it is a new camera.

I do not have problem buying manufacturer refurbished product.

[enzodm]

so i wanna buy a nice one, and i saw a fuji av130 on amazon, and it's concerningly cheap bc it's "REFURBISHED" (dun dun dun)
that means "broken and fixed again"? it's twelve mp and it has fivex zoom, and most importantly, it'll let ME decide what i wanna do with the light, which is what i need.

From specs:

Program AE:	Yes
Aperture Priority:	No
Shutter Priority:	No
Full Manual Exposure:	No

(and exposure should be on just two steps).

[CMfromIL]

I buy refurbished electronics if it's the same item I was already looking for. They are usually about 50% of full retail price, carry the same mfg warrenty, and have all the supplies as a new unit. Usually come in a brown box instead of the fancy new box.

BTW, these are factory refurbs, not a retailer refurb. I'd stay away from those.

[Ftn]

... Refurbished means that the camera broke at one point. The company took it back, fixed that part and is now going to sell it. Usually still has a warranty with it because it is "basically" new, but make sure it's someone reputable trying to sell this camera and not some person off the street. Hope that helps.

As a former Refurb Engineer, I have to say that the "broke at some point" part of your opinion is only true about 10% of the time. The vast majority of cameras that came through my department were trade show demos, with a healthy percentage of trade-ins (trade-ups usually).

That's not saying that things did not come in broken, were repaired and then re-sold, or that we did not buy back something that one of our Service Centers could not, or would not fix (would not fix is something that is determined by the Sales department, usually a Trade-Up was the cause).

With a network of local service centers across the country, even the most experienced service engineers got stumped occasionally, whereas my refurb techs could diagnose and repair just about any problem. One thing too, if a camera did not meet each and every one of the specs it had when new, it was repaired or destroyed.

Cosmetics played a big part in the pricing structure, we used a grading system, where new was A-Class, used, demoed, repaired were considered B-Class. Very rarely a product was needed so badly by a customer that they would accept (in writing) a slightly out-of-spec or cosmetically challenged piece, these we called C-Stock. D was reserved for incoming inventory that had to be checked and refurbished, E meant that it was missing! So a good line to use when buying refurbished stuff is to ask if it's C-Stock or not.

[KmH]

The major source of what becomes a 'refurbished' unit, is returns

Most cameras that are returned are returned because of buyer's remorse, and/or non-existent 'defects' that are actually user errors.
The average entry-level DSLR buyer spends little time reading the owner's manual.

Only very minor repairs that can be done quickly are performed on cameras returned that actually have a defect. The profit margins are so low the camera maker can't afford the labor cost to do more extensive repairs.

[sovietdoc]

If I was buying a 70-200 II and it said "refurbished" I would still buy it
If I was buying a 24-70 f/2.8L and it said "refurbished" I wouldn't.

[Dao]

If I was buying a 70-200 II and it said "refurbished" I would still buy it
If I was buying a 24-70 f/2.8L and it said "refurbished" I wouldn't.

Would you tell us why?

[sovietdoc]

If I was buying a 70-200 II and it said "refurbished" I would still buy it
If I was buying a 24-70 f/2.8L and it said "refurbished" I wouldn't.

Would you tell us why?

Some lenses there are a lot of "bad copies" of.

Granted, even if you buy new it doesn't guarantee it won't be a bad copy, but a lot of times refurbished things are what someone sent back for a reason.

Personally, I've made about 4 or 5 purchases that were "refurbished" and only 1 of them was good. Especially if I am paying a lot of money, like for an L lens for example, I might as well just get it brand new. I understand that the decision may not be as easy when the price is very attractive, but still.

[HikinMike]

As a former Refurb Engineer, I have to say that the "broke at some point" part of your opinion is only true about 10% of the time. The vast majority of cameras that came through my department were trade show demos, with a healthy percentage of trade-ins (trade-ups usually).

That's not saying that things did not come in broken, were repaired and then re-sold, or that we did not buy back something that one of our Service Centers could not, or would not fix (would not fix is something that is determined by the Sales department, usually a Trade-Up was the cause).

With a network of local service centers across the country, even the most experienced service engineers got stumped occasionally, whereas my refurb techs could diagnose and repair just about any problem. One thing too, if a camera did not meet each and every one of the specs it had when new, it was repaired or destroyed.

Cosmetics played a big part in the pricing structure, we used a grading system, where new was A-Class, used, demoed, repaired were considered B-Class. Very rarely a product was needed so badly by a customer that they would accept (in writing) a slightly out-of-spec or cosmetically challenged piece, these we called C-Stock. D was reserved for incoming inventory that had to be checked and refurbished, E meant that it was missing! So a good line to use when buying refurbished stuff is to ask if it's C-Stock or not.

I agree. I used to work for an company that made metal detectors and I was one of the electronic techs. Most of our 'refurbished' stuff was trade show demos or dealer demos.

[jjwarrenphotography]

As long as the deal is good there is bother wrong with getting refurb. My only issue is when the price is so close to new that it is not worth it!

[manaheim]

I bought a refurbished piece of non-camera equipment once and it was unusable and so non-functional that a 2 year old would have realized it in about 30 seconds. It was refurbished by the manufacturer (Hewlett Packard, mind you) and guaranteed to be perfect and like new. I've been leery of refurbished since.

[Mach0]

There's bad copies out both new and refurb. I got my d90 refurbished and as it turned out, it was immaculate with only 200 clicks.

[Theninjaseal]

I'd suggest not to go with a SLR. You have to handle the film and get it developed and then scan it - aand then you get your pictures. For learning, I'd go with a Olympus Pen-series or a Lumix G-series. And that's what I did, and I love it. But IMO SLRs are hard to learn on.