New or refurbished?

[BluePhoton]

Now that I have decided to get the D5100 with 18-55 and 55-200 kit I was wondering, should I go for the new kit ($740) or refurbished ? which is around $450 something..

Background:

I will be doing hobby photography, I am by no means a professional and I will not be upgrading the camera body for a long time

Thanks in advance.

 

[Nikanon]

Refurbished! That way you can save some $$ and you can spend the extra on a nice flash.

Just make sure you buy from an authorized dealer.

 

[BluePhoton]

Refurbished! That way you can save some $$ and you can spend the extra on a nice flash.

Just make sure you buy from an authorized dealer.

Ah ok so can you recommend any good dealers?

 

[Nikanon]

Refurbished! That way you can save some $$ and you can spend the extra on a nice flash.

Just make sure you buy from an authorized dealer.

Ah ok so can you recommend any good dealers?

B&H
Adorama
KEH

 

[Big Mike]

Refurbished gear can be a great deal.
For example, a lot of refurbished gear may actually be brand new. When something fails a quality control checkpoint while in the factory assembly line, it has to be pulled from production line. It is then inspected and corrected by factory technicians. It basically gets a full check up, to be sure that it's working correctly. But the catch is that they can't just put it back in with the production line products....once it's been pulled, it has to be sold as refurbished.

So if you buy a new product off the shelf, it has likely had the bare minimum of inspection. They likely inspect a small sample size for every production run....so it's possible that you could get a bad copy, right off the shelf. But with a refurbished piece, you know that the model in your hands, has been fully inspected and tested.

Of course, there are other sources for refurbished gear. Store sample & returns etc. So you may actually get a used camera, but it still would have been fully inspected and tested before being sold as refurbished.

 

[KmH]

I believe about $450 refurbished does not include a 55-200 mm lens:
Nikon D5100 16.2MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens

The 2 lens kit:
Nikon D5100 16.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera Bundle with 18-55mm and 55-200mm VR AF-S Lenses

Buying refurbished is a pretty smart way to save a few $$$'s.
With more experience and more gear knowledge, buying used saves even more $$$'s.

 

[coastalconn]

Don't forget camera.com they include a 1 year warranty..

 

[DarkShadow]

I got a D90 refurbished with 226 clicks and everything looks and works like new.If it was boxed as new I wouldn't have known the difference.

 

[KmH]

Nikon factory refurbished gear includes a 90 day warranty.

Nikon authorized re-sellers usually add their own, additional 275 day warranty. Which means the re-seller pays to have Nikon make repairs that would be covered by Nikon's regular warranty.

Cameta.com is also a Nikon authorized refurbished gear seller and adds their warranty to Nikon's 90 days.

 

[coastalconn]

Lol, I posted from my phone and it auto corrected Cameta.com to camera.com..

 

[TheLost]

Cameta.com is also a Nikon authorized refurbished gear seller and adds their warranty to Nikon's 90 days.

Don't forget that the Cameta One year warranty work is done BY NIKON!! No-brainer-if-you-ask-me! (I have no affiliation with Cameta.. They just put me in my place once and it started a strong love for them within me http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/nikon/327007-blessing-disguise.html#post2951536 )

 

[BluePhoton]

Great, thanks guys for all the responses. Amazon has refurbished models from Cameta and on 2 lens kit, I am saving around $150

 

[coastalconn]

Why not straight from cameta?

Great, thanks guys for all the responses. Amazon has refurbished models from Cameta and on 2 lens kit, I am saving around $150

 

[cbarnard7]

I literally just bought a refurbished D5100 from Adorama about three weeks ago and couldn't be more happy. It's in perfect condition (with less than 200 clicks) and I got it for cheap. All-in-all, D5100, 18-55 VR, 55-200mm VR and warranty for ~$600. That's pretty ridiculous! And, I love my camera, much better than the D3100 I had.

 

[BluePhoton]

I literally just bought a refurbished D5100 from Adorama about three weeks ago and couldn't be more happy. It's in perfect condition (with less than 200 clicks) and I got it for cheap. All-in-all, D5100, 18-55 VR, 55-200mm VR and warranty for ~$600. That's pretty ridiculous! And, I love my camera, much better than the D3100 I had.

so do they tell you how many clicks does the camera has ? I mean how they know ? nobody counts clicks pls pardon my ignorance, i am a newbie