Buying refurbished Canon 5D from Canon (Opinions)

I’m considering purchasing a refurbished Canon 5D3 or 5D4.
Has anybody purchased a refurbished Canon Body and what was your experiences?
Would your recommend refurbished?
What body would you recommend of the 2 listed?

Thanks for your help,

I bought a 7D and an XSi refurb from Canon. Both like new and no issues. Sold 7D but daughter still using the other one years later.

I've purchased refurbished 500D, 60D, 70D, 80D, and several lenses directly from Canon. I've never had problems with any refurbished gear.

I've bought refurbished .. t4i, 80d , 5d4.. efs 24mm, 10-18, 50 1.4 , 85 1.8 35 1.4.

No problems at all.. it's almost the only way I buy canon

Dirty sensor on the 80d was the worst.. easier to clean than to send back

I purchased a refurbished 5D III a few months ago and have had no problems at all. It's like brand new. I've also purchased a few refurbished lenses and they were perfect. I wouldn't hesitate to buy refurbished from Canon.

Scott

What everybody else has said. Also, you get a 14 day return period and a full 1 year warranty.

My experience, 60D, 80D and a flsh unit. The 60D had about 45 clicks, the 80D I didn't bother to check. I sincerely doubt anyone could tell that anything was not new once out of the plain white box.

Some people think that "refurbished" means that the gear was used for a while, then returned to Canon, and then Canon overhauls it. . 90% of the time this is simply not the case at all.

90% of the time, gear that is sold as refurbished has never been sold or used. . What happens is that Canon sends, say, 100 cameras to a retailer such as Best Buy, B&H, etc. . If the retailer doesn't sell all 100 cameras within a given time period, by contract they are able to return the unsold gear to Canon. . When this happens, Canon will not sell the gear as new, because it has left their facility and then come back. . Yes, even though the boxes have never been opened and the cameras never taken out of their sealed plastic bags, the cameras are listed as "refurbished" and sold at a big discount.

It cracks me up when someone actually thinks that a refurbished camera, or computer, or whatever, has been sold, opened, used for a while, and then traded in. . It just doesn't work that way.

Ok, some joker will come on here and post that they bought a factory refurb that had obvious signs of wear on it, and try to disprove my statement with their little anecdote. . This happens in very rare instances, the other 10% of the time. . But like I said, 90% of the refurbs are brand new items that were never sold and never used.

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I did read some time ago that people received {bought} refurbished and were posting there shutter count. So it would seem some were used.

Sure, and I am one of them. However there are many, many threads discussing Canon refurbs and the overwhelming consensus is that you will likely receive a new or very like new camera for a great price with the same 1 year warranty as from a store. There is no downside here. You have 2 weeks to decide if you want to keep it, or exchange it.

k9trainer wrote in post #18536797
I did read some time ago that people received {bought} refurbished and were posting there shutter count. So it would seem some were used.

Yes, my 60D had 40+ clicks on it. But sitting in a display counter at Best Buy people do try before buy and hence it racks up clicks. At the other end of things is a neighbor that for years went and bought a nice camera and returned it after a 2-week vacation. Yep, seriously! He quit doing that when the stores started keeping records and doing a restock fee.

Go for it, with confidence. I’ve purchased multiple items from the Canon refurb pages with no issues. Go for the 5D4 if you can swing it. Personally if I was to buy a 5D3 now I’d buy used because the deals will be better, albeit no warranty.

John from PA wrote in post #18536953
Yes, my 60D had 40+ clicks on it. But sitting ina display counter at Best Buy people do try before buy and hence it racks up clicks. At the other end of things is a neighbor that for years went and bought a nice camera and returned it after a 2-week vacation. Yep, seriously! He quit doing that when the stores started keeping records and doing a restock fee.

One of the cameras I purchased from the Canon refurb had 19,000 clicks on it. The other 6 or so had under 100.

John from PA wrote in post #18536953
Yes, my 60D had 40+ clicks on it. But sitting ina display counter at Best Buy people do try before buy and hence it racks up clicks. At the other end of things is a neighbor that for years went and bought a nice camera and returned it after a 2-week vacation. Yep, seriously! He quit doing that when the stores started keeping records and doing a restock fee.

My wife works in retail for a company with a liberal return policy. She has a small number of customers who buy on Friday and return the items on Monday. By now she has a good idea which purchases are just for weekend use. These returned items are sent back to their warehouse as used. Big expense for the company.

Rod

I just received my $2,209 5D Mk IV, refurbished body from Canon. It does not have a mark on it and it has 21 clicks. I'm pretty happy.