Do you trust refurbished products?

MSI Magus

MSI Magus

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Just wondering, what do you guys think about refurbished products? Do you never buy them no matter what? Do you buy them only if the discount is large enough? Willing to buy them but only for certain types of products?
 
a fax machine? Sure.
refurbished Iphone? Probably
Sony refurbished PS3? Maybe
Gamesotp refurbished system? No
refurbished Xbox 360? No
 
like everybody else, a 360 no way. But I did buy a refurbished Zune 4gig from Fry's with a new car charger/fm tuner for $60.00. The savings were enough to convince me to get it. It's working perfectly and it has a 1 year warranty.
 
really depends on what the product is like everyone else said.
But for me I generally don't buy refurbished stuff at all. The only used things I buy are video games, that's about it.
 
It's all about price to me. It probably has to be closer to 50% off for me to consider it refurb. If we're talking only a 25% difference I will go new 10 times out of 10, unless the warranties are identical and they usually never are.
 
I don't like buying refurbed computers or expensive electronics, but I do hear that the Apple refurb is actually pretty good: my friend bought a refurbed iMac, I think it was 19", it froze after a day, and Apple replaced it with a brand new 22" iMac.

Still darn expensive, though ;)
 
Yeah, like everyone else said, stay away from a refrub 360 unless it's like $50, I found out the hard way.

I've bought a few refurb things before, like the Archos 605 30gb, it was almost like brand new. Also just bough a refurb Flip Ultra HD.
 
I've bought a refurbished Harmony remote that looked brand new for $40 and is still working a year later.
 
No 360's or PS3's, period. I have a refurbed router that works fine. I won't spend more than like... I don't know, lets say I would spend less than $100 on something refurbed if I were confident in the product after doing research.
 
[quote name='62t']a fax machine? Sure.
refurbished Iphone? Probably
Sony refurbished PS3? Maybe
Gamesotp refurbished system? No
refurbished Xbox 360? No[/QUOTE]

Fax machine? Anyway, I'll go with this.
 
I personally wouldn't go refurb for gaming consoles, but Apple refurbs are a good choice to save some $ on a Mac/iPod. They come with the same warranty and install discs, etc., just no fancy packaging. I've bought a refurbished iPod shuffle (worked great until I lost it) and a refurbished MacBook (works great, currently using for 2+ years and counting).

I've also bought a cheap refurbished router in the past with no problems (worked great until I replaced it with a better one), so as long as you do your research and know what you're getting into, refurb isn't a bad way to go.
 
Refurbs have been hit or miss for me. I wouldn't hesitate to get a refurbished Apple product because you get a good warranty and can buy AppleCare extended coverage.

I wouldn't buy a refurbished game console (as others have said), and I would also stay away from similar wireless equipment. The only success I've had in this department is with a refurbed Linksys USB wireless adapter. I tried a Netgear router and wireless adapter, but both were complete garbage. I ended up pitching (well, recycling anyway) them because it wasn't worth the time or expense to return them to Newegg.
 
I usually am ok with refurbished products. My current PC is a refurbished HP that I have had for a year and a half with no problem. I would suggest that any refurbished product you get has a warenty on it though. My personal thoughts are that refurbished just means that they already found the problem and fixed it. (because everything has a problem)
 
Well I seem to be with the majority here. I will buy a lot of refurbished products but no consoles or big ticket items like an HDTV.

Yesterday I was on the fence about a Sandisk 8gb Mp3/video player that newegg had on sale for $47 which was about half off the price of a new one on amazon or new egg. End of the day I bit on it so hopefully it was the right choice.
 
I don't buy refurbished PCs or consoles. I had a friend who worked at a mom and pop used video game store pre-GS days, and man, I saw what was inside some of the consoles he repaired and refurbished. Yuck. Alot of the stuff was just plain out abused and broken by the previous owner, very rarely was it an actual manufacturer defect. I'll take a pass.
 
Depends on what the product is and the source of the refurbishment. I bought a Sandisk MP3 player a couple years ago refurb and it lasted me forever then I sold it on ebay and got more than I paid for the refurb (nice!). The player was refurbished by sandisk themselves, not some other place.

Apple products come with the same warranty as new and a new screen and battery, this I would definitely buy refurb, but I hate apple because I don't like the control they have over their products and their products are very overpriced for what you are getting.

Dell outlet is another good one, and I haven't found anyone who had a bad experience there with buying computers. Usually the computers there are customer returns, aka the customer that returns the computer doesn't like it so you get a hefty discount. The computers are refurb'ed by dell themselves and have the same warranty as a new one.

In general I would try to avoid refurbs of items that have built in non-replaceable batteries, because a replacement battery would probably cost you more than the device itself and its just not worth it, or between the cost of the device and a new battery you would just be better off buying the new one. I would also avoid random refurbs from ebay and amazon (and places like Gamestop who do their own refurbishment) unless you know that it was specifically refurb'ed by the original manufacturer.
 
[quote name='62t']there is a huge difference between factory refurbished and gamestop/random place refurbished[/QUOTE]

Unless the product in question was made and later refurbished by Netgear.
 
My first PS2 was an EB (at the time) refurb. Lasted a good 5 years til I decided to snag a slim. I'd consider a PS3 and while I wouldnt *choose* to get a refurb 360, I basically have one as when my 360 RRoDed, they simply sent me some other console.

BTW: The computer (lappy) used to type this post is a refurb (Dell).
 
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