Nikon D90, Refurbished or Used

[KmH]

I'd go with refurbished rather than used. When it's refurbished, whatever didn't work was replaced or fixed, and the camera was then fully tested by Nikon. And because Nikon's warranty is only a year, you know the camera was used for less time than that.

No you don't, because not all refurbished cameras had something wrong with them or were even originally sold at retail.

Some refurbished cameras had nothing wrong with them and were returned because of buyer remorse, but still have to be checked over, and cannot be resold as new. Some refurbished cameras were used in the factory or at trade shows, and also had nothing wrong with them. Those cameras may have been placed in service longer than a year previous but they still get inspected, refurbished if necessary, and can't be sold as used.

No doubt, some refurbished cameras were returned because of malfunctions, were subsequently repaired and are sold as refurbished gear.

Any warranty repairs needed that were so extensive Nikon simple replaced the entire camera for the customer, likely wound up in the trash bin, not for sale as a refurbished camera.

Cameras Nikon refurbishes include a Nikon 90 day warranty. Cameras refurbished by someone else don't have a warranty.

Nikon's warranty is only valid for the original owner, so there is no Nikon warranty when you buy used, even if the original owner had the camera for less than a year.

I buy most of my camera gear used. However, I have enough experience buying and selling used gear to (knock-on-wood) not have had any bad experiences.

 

[SrBiscuit]

So I went ahead and placed an order for a factory demo refurb from cameta. They had it priced at 629, and with the added 1-year warranty, I couldnt pass it up.
HOPING that it gets here by the weekend so I can spend some quality time with it.

Psyched!

 

[ulrichsd]

I purchased a refurbished body only from Cameta Camera. They offer a dealer warranty beyond the 90-day refurb warranty if you're interested...I wasn't...

Paid approx $650.00 and am very happy...

I also got my factory demo from Cameta. I chose that over Adorama because they include a 1 year warranty on top of the 30 day warranty.

It came with only 198 photos, so IMO, not buying new is $100 saved that I can spend on something else.

Good luck,
Scott