Factory refurbished?

daystar wrote in post #8452968
Generally speaking, is buying a factory refurbished camera a good choice?

I bought my 1DMk3 as a Canon factory refurb from Adorama and will do so again. It's boxed up like new, not a mark on it, you couldn't tell it from new if you tried.

I see no reason to buy a brand new one at $4500 when a refurb at $3000 is just as good (if not better given it's been inspected vs. rolling off an assembly line and boxed up unchecked).

Message from Helen, Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador

daystar wrote in post #8452968
Generally speaking, is buying a factory refurbished camera a good choice?

A refurbished unit from Adorama Camera may be an ex-store demo, possibly used in field tests or sales displays, or it may have been ordered in error and returned to the retailer (who can't then sell it as 'new' so it has to be sent back to the manufacturer for refurbishment).

A refurb can also have simply been pulled from the production line if something appears faulty, or if it hasn't passed the final inspection. Most of the time it is a very minor issue that needs correcting, nevertheless, once it is pulled from the normal flow of production, it gets flagged as a refurbished model, so you may get a unit straight from the factory that has never been used.

A refurbished item will have been checked over by the manufacturer by hand, inspected very thoroughly, diagnosed, and calibrated by experienced technicians, and could therefore turn out to be more dependable than a new item - which will only have been checked by a process of systematic quality control protocol (ie by random sampling as it comes off the conveyor belt).

In the past Adorama warranted Canon refurbished for 90 days; since 1st May, all Canon refurbished products from Adorama come with a 1 year return-to-Adorama warranty; 14 days from date of receipt for a full refund, and the balance for repair or replacement.

I hope this helps, but do contact me directly if you need any additional information.

Another +1 for Canon refurbs sold by Adorama.

I've been shooting with my XTi for about 8 months and can confidently say I've had ZERO problems with my camera... besides the fact that it goes everywhere with me. =p

Just posted this in the other thread too, but i love my adorama refurb stuff!

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Bought my Refurb Canon 5D in Feb this year from Adorama for $1399+ shipping. Thought was a fantastic deal. The camera arrived in 'new' condition with no sign of any wear and functioned like new as well. Then starting this month, the camera started to produce complete black shots intermitently, especially the first couple of shots, sometimes just the first one, when turning on the camera for the first time (I usually leave the camera on while I was at it because the processor is so slow that, even with the SanDisk Extreme III card, it takes forever to writes the shots to the card). This is less than 6 month from the date bought it. I didn't realize the 1 year warranty from Adorama till I started to read this. Will send Helen an email and arrange to ship the camera back to Adorama if possible. There is no abuse/drop/water/moist of any kind by the way. My older Rebel XT and 40D, all bought brand new, never had any such problem, or any other problems for that matter.

Just some first hand experience to share with you good folks here. I am just hoping that Adorama will fix this problem for good in short period of time so this won't be the beginning of the end. I did buy a number of Canon refurbed Canon lenses, including L lenses, and never had any problem with those. Guess Canon refurb program is not infallable after all.

HelenOster wrote in post #8473749
A refurb can also have simply been pulled from the production line if something appears faulty, or if it hasn't passed the final inspection. Most of the time it is a very minor issue that needs correcting, nevertheless, once it is pulled from the normal flow of production, it gets flagged as a refurbished model, so you may get a unit straight from the factory that has never been used.

I believe this to be the case with the XTi I purchased from Adorama last September or so.
Shutter count was at zero, it looked and smelled as if new, and there were absolutely no marks to be found on it anywhere. The difference was in the packaging: a simple white box with black print, a bit larger than the retail package, packed in injected foam within plastic bags. I feel it was either pulled from the regular production, or it was an unused open-box return. I would purchase a Canon-refurbished product again without hesitation.

HelenOster wrote in post #8473749
In the past Adorama warranted Canon refurbished for 90 days; since 1st May, all Canon refurbished products from Adorama come with a 1 year return-to-Adorama warranty; 14 days from date of receipt for a full refund, and the balance for repair or replacement.

.

is this true of lenses as well, or just camera bodies?

I was told that the Canon factory refurb cameras at Adorama are NOT customer returns. They are units that did not originally pass the factory final QC inspection and were sent back to production rework for repair. Because of this they are sold as refurbs at Adorama as opposed to USED cameras which ARE customer returns, etc. that have gone through a checkout to insure that they are functioning properly, but still might have some cosmetic blemishes.

EDIT: Sorry, I somehow missed seeing the post from Helen Oster from Adorama who had already addressed the subject about Adorama refurbs. Now, I feel silly for stating less accurately what she had already said several posts earlier.

Traded in my old system and bought a refurbed XSI, refurbed 70-300 IS and a used 17-85 IS from Adorama.. The refurbed parts where brand new(basically). I exchanged the used 17-85 less then a week later cuz the images where soft and not sharp for a refurbed 17-85....much better. I will prolly never buy new again.. I plan on upgrading to a 50D at Xmas...

I bought my 5D and several lenses as Adorama refurbs. Each was absolutely perfect. Probably even better than new.

My referb 30D shutter blew after 7000 or so clicks, 200 quid for repairs

My refurb from adorama (50D) came with 3901 clicks, obviously that's too many to have been pulled from assembly. Perhaps it was a demo, but if it was, that's a lot of clicks.

That being said, I haven't had any problems yet (knock on wood). From what I understand, the 1 year warranty only applies through adorama if you bought your refurb after May 1st of '09.

I was actually considering returning mine and trying my luck with another until I spoke to Helen, who told me that shutter defects are covered as well under the adorama warranty. Besides, 4k clicks isn't a lot on a shutter that's life is supposed to be around 100,000. I also bought the Mack warranty for piece of mind.

HelenOster wrote in post #8473749
In the past Adorama warranted Canon refurbished for 90 days; since 1st May, all Canon refurbished products from Adorama come with a 1 year return-to-Adorama warranty; 14 days from date of receipt for a full refund, and the balance for repair or replacement.

As of today, for refurbished Canon 5D, your website still mentions 90 days adorama warranty only. Is that a mistake?

lordjim wrote in post #8479401
As of today, for refurbished Canon 5D, your website still mentions 90 days adorama warranty only. Is that a mistake?

Yes, it is. Thank you for picking it up - do you have the link to that one handy and I'll get it changed.

Got my refurb Canon 5D from Adorama in late Feb this year for $1400 + shipping, was working great till this month (August) - when I first turn on the camera, the first shot comes back as complete black. Sometimes this happens during a shooting session as well. It happens randomly, regardless of the lens I use. Does this sound like a shutter/mirror problem? This camera is only 6 month old with no abuse or cosmetic wear at all!

I heard on the web that Adorama has 1 year warranty on Refurb cameras so I checked with Adorama/Helen yesterday and was told that since I bought the camera before May 1, I was out of luck - I only got 90 days warranty which already ran out. This really sucks!

So is buying Refurb from Adorama a good deal? I used to think so but now I am not so sure. I have used my 40D and 350D much longer and in worse climate conditions with a lot more shutter actuations on them. They have NO PROBLEM at all. And I bought them new (not from Adorama btw).

My refurb 5D is clearly a lemon, perhaps not Adorama's fault. But I am definitely not happy about it. Go for it if you think luck is on your side...