Refurbished Body?

Has anyone had experience with refurbished bodies from Canon? I'd be interested to know your experience-any problems, how did the camera look cosmetically, etc.? I just can't get over the suspicion that if it was broke once, it will still be a turkey, even after repair.

i just bought a refurb 5d2. looked absolutely pristine, i was shocked to find it had 3000 clicks on it.

you get a 90 day warranty, i figured if its going bad it will happen in that 90 days or when it normally would way down the road.

I bought a refurb 40D, from Canon direct sales, I've now had it for 4 years, and almost 8000 clicks. It works great, looks great. It looked brand new when I got it (still does). Canon says on their website that refurbs can be factory new over stock, new, never used, display only cameras, or dealer overstock retrurns, so you are not necessarily getting a damaged/broke camera/body. Plus Canon's cutomer service policy is extemely generous, there are lots of stories of Canon repairing/replacing items that were long out of warranty for no charge. If you were to have a problem, Canon will just send you a new refurb rather than making you wait for yours to be it to be fixed. There's a lot of guys on this forum that will only buy refurb lenses and bodies. -rick

you do know about the canon loyalty program right? you can get refurbished bodies and lenses even cheaper. 20% cheaper.

Thanks Mike & alazgr8. I appreciate your input. I'm considering taking advantage of the CLP and that's what sparked my questions. I guess I figured a refurbished camera would have a new shutter. 3000 clicks is one thing, but, say, 50K? Did they tell you about shutter useage, Mike?

Got my 7D in August via CLP, came with 20 clicks on it. It looked completely untouched, you'd never have been able to tell the difference between it and a brand-new one.

tsamarin, if you really have an issue with the unknown of a refurb you probably are better off buying new. Nothing worse than always wondering if your less than perfect photos are because someone once dropped your refurb camera or something. Buy new and you can rest easy knowing that you are the problem!

Got my 60d thru CLP. Only way to tell it wasn't new was that I bought it "not new". Cool thing about CLP is that if you get one that has a scratch, blemish, or whatever that you don't want, you can exchange it for anther one. I'd go through CLP again no question, they were that easy (and FAST) to deal with.

tsamarin wrote in post #15081221
Thanks Mike & alazgr8. I appreciate your input. I'm considering taking advantage of the CLP and that's what sparked my questions. I guess I figured a refurbished camera would have a new shutter. 3000 clicks is one thing, but, say, 50K? Did they tell you about shutter useage, Mike?

no, but 3000 on a 5d2 is low mileage. you get two weeks to return it for a full refund. i doubt you'd get one with a whole lot more than 3000. if you aren't comfortable, send it back.

Bought my 7D refurbished on the Canon Loyalty Program. Not a single problem. Looked and acted as good as new.

Yeah I would consider anything refurbished from Canon to be as good as new. I just bought a 60D, 15-85 and 55-250 during the refurbished sale last week and they could all easily pass as new.

Same here, I just bought my refurbished 7D with only 36 clicks on it. Excellent condition, not a single issue.

Just got a second 7D refurbished from Canon. Has 7K clicks on it. Almost as much as what I've got on my first.

But it seems to operate just fine, and it's going to act as a backup anyway.

These things come with a 90 day warranty, so you can get all the issues ironed out. As long as the shutter count isn't in the tens of thousands, I wouldn't be too worried about it.

Just test yours thoroughly within that 90 day window, and have Canon fix anything that isn't right.

Spouse has had the refurb XTi for quite a few years now. It happily works. Couldn't tell it wasn't new. Extended family was never told it wasn't brand new.
Just replaced a third party grip this year.

I had a refrubed 50D - worked perfectly for 2 years - just sold it and replaced it with a 5D2

I've had NO issues with any of my refurbed gear from Canon - including a 17-55, 430EX among other things