Refurbished Electronics: Debunking the Misconception

Watch for refurbs being positioned by those clever folks in Marketing Departments as the next "cause célèbre"...

They are environmentally responsible!

As in: reduce, reuse, and recycle.

from the the Dell refurb site:

"Dell Outlet is committed to maximizing the re-use or recycling of all returned Dell products. We refurbish and sell over 90% of all returned Dell systems. The remaining 10% of returned Dell product is resold for parts or recyclable materials (metal, glass, and plastic). We at Dell Outlet believe it's important to consider the environmental impact at every stage in the product life cycle."

I bought a new Garmin 755T and a refurbished Garmin 1490T. I got the 1490T for $200 and I can't tell the difference between it and the new 755T I bought; the refurb appears brand new to me in all respects.

I keep looking at the refurbished 1490T as an upgrade. The price difference is large enough to make me try the refurb on this model.

I bought a factory refurbed Harmony remote. It was about 40% cheaper. I wanted a harmony, but I didnt buy into the ridiculous price of a 'remote'.
So I took the chance.
Not a scratch...worked like a charm.
Battery worked as advertised
Over a year later? No problems...still going strong.
No regrets at all.

Also bought a factory refurbed IBM thinkpad T43 after my R52 blew up after many years of service.
Because REAL THINKPADS dont exist anymore (I hate lenovo..and the newer thinkpads are in name only), I took the chance.
REAL thinkpads are tanks..so I went for it.
I'm very familiar with thinkpads (I supported them).

It looked brand new..right down to a unworn keyboard.
I was blown away by the condition!
The battery tested out to only have 70% capacity and had about 50 cycles on it.
No biggy...I still had the battery from the R52 and it works with the T43.
Nearly two years later? Using it everyday? Still rock solid. (IBM 'real' thinkpad quality!)
I got it for about $350!! I consider it one of my best purchases.

and have come to the conclusion that you have two camps, 1, people that love buying new cars, and paying sticker price, 2, and those that will buy the same car after it is one year old! No longer do I buy new cars...I've learned the hard way. I totally agree with BobDee! I am looking at a 775t refurb for $189.00, or a new one at $399.00. Now let's see which one should I choose...duh! Considering the damned thing in two years MIGHT be worth $120.00!! No my friends, I buy refurbs in most cases, and have had no problems. I had a new Nuvi 360 Garmin that went out the first day....and you know what? I paid FULL price! "No offense is meant but, "A fool and his money are soon parted"

The manufacturer probably wants to maximize the number of sales with value pricing but also wants to sell to the people who just can't or won't afford the full price of the units. So by selling some units as 'refurbished' with a slight question mark over them will allow them to reach that second market without cannibalizing the primary market.

My first Nüvi was defective and I had to send it back. The one I use now, and have for the past four years, has worked like a charm. It was a refurbished unit and is still going strong.

I also have a refurbished iPod that has served me equally as well.

Guess you can tell, I'm a firm believer in using refurbished products to save money. Many are superior to the original item because it has been checked out and repaired to complete factory specs.

So far I've bought a total of 3 refurbished Nuvis and I could not tell them apart from new units when I got them. Two were 350s, and up to now their batteries still hold a charge very well. I must say I've been lucky with the refurbished electronics I've purchased.

I suspect that in some cases refurbs are actually higher quality than new. I've had at least 4 new disk drives (desktop and laptop drives) fail on me early in their warranty period in the past 5 years. Many more over the past 15 years I've been tending to several dozen computers as a volunteer. The replacement drives from the manufacturer have always been marked as refurbished, and guess what? None of those refurbished drives have failed yet. It might be that they're subject to more stringent tests than new drives before they are recycled.

Like they say, YMMV. I had poor luck with devices labeled as "store returns" or "like new." My latest problem was with DISH NETWORK. My new DVR failed after 2 years. The replacement was a refurbished unit that failed shortly there after. The next replacement was actually older than my first one. It had a quirk. After long conversations with CSR, they told me resetting the unit was an acceptable condition. Good bye DISH, hello DIRECTV.
I paid significantly less for my new 1490T at Staples than Amazon was selling a refurb at the time.

I might buy some items as refurbs. But I certainly avoid refurbs on things with built-in batteries or LCD screens, both of which we are talking about here. Batteries age, particularly if not used properly, and I don't want battery problems from a supposed refurb. LCD devices are often returned for bad pixel problems, and most of those returns simply become refurbs, so I want to avoid that problem too, would certainly not order a refurb GPS mail order where I can't examine it first. Also intermittent electronic problems can slip past the refurb people (if the device is really refurbed at all), and a GPS is just the kind of device to have such issues.

Also, be aware that some vendors seem to misrepresent bad and broken devices as refurbished. Just look at the reviews that Microsoft "refurbished" keyboards are getting on Meritline if you want to see how bad this abuse is.

Would never buy a refurbished unit of anything. Not worth the price difference to me for the potenial problems....to each his or her own though....

My wife was refurbished and so far so good, 30 years strong, No matter what it is, do your research and throw in a pretty dress here and there, and you'll be OK my friend....

does refurbished mean? It depends on the product. How do you refurbish a router? Clean the case? If the unit works, clean the case and send it out. Battery operated items are a little different. In those cases, there is actually something to "refurbish". Battery dead? Replace it, clean the case and send it out.

I've purchased two refurbs, both work great.

My wife is refurbish also. Can't complain, it's been over 30 yrs, replacement parts here and there, but she is working just fine.

in the mail, and so far so good! Sometimes you never know though, even with a new Garmin! Anyway, I will keep crossing my fingers, hoping the fool thing does not blow up while in Europe, but I always bring along the old workhorse, my trusty 360!!

Great read. Thanks for the info.

I always thought refurbs were those units that had been returned for warranty service to the manufacturer, been repaired and then were being resold?

I have many refurbished items still working after many years, when "new" units failed a few months after the warranty expired. Sometimes refurbished is the better way to go, specially when trying to get an expensive item that may not be otherwise "reachable" (or can't justify the expense)

They are returned to SOMEPLACE for some kind of testing and if they pass, they are re-packaged and re-sold. Very few actually fail the tests so not many get any actual "repairs".

The problem comes in when you get a unit that passes all the standard factory tests yet fails in actual use.

Those "problem" units tend to go round and round in the cycle until they are so old that there isn't a market for them anymore. NOBODY TAKES THE TIME TO RECORD HOW MANY TIMES A PARTICULAR UNIT COMES BACK because that would cost a few cents.

As the model in question becomes older and older, your odds of getting one with a "hidden" problem goes WAY up......because that's all that is left in the pipeline.

It could be because the box, but not the product, was damaged. The item was too simple, too complicated or the person didn't really want it. As the original posted said, it was returned to the manufacturer for any reason.

I have purchased Canon cameras and lenses that were refurbished by Canon and would not hesitate to do so again.

Interesting - but I always felt the refurbshed product was somehow less than new. How come the warranty is often less than for a "new" item

Q: What is that hollow thumping noise?

A: It is just me giving myself a dope slap for not realizing this before!

The thing is, there is no universal one right answer to this question. For some devices, when I trust they have been properly factory refurbished, buying a refurb at a very good price might be a good deal. But for others, particularly items with built in batteries or LCD displays, you may be buying units with old batteries or displays that others rejected because of bad pixels but that the manufacturer claims are still acceptable with limited bad pixels. Even worse, some vendors sell things they claim are refurbished but are just trash. A vendor mentioned in these forums recently selling an illegal GPS jammer also sells a lot of Microsoft hardware that they claim is refurbished, but if you look at the reviews they get from dissatisfied buyers it is pretty apparent that some things they sell azre just items that were returned as defective but resold, nver fixed or truly refurbished. If buying refurbished, do your research, and be sure that the product really has been brought back up to new condition and thoroughly tested.

Also, particularly for GPS devices, be certain you know the real street price of the item and that you are getting a real savings. GPS receivers have been selling much lower than official "list" price lately, and if you buy a refurb device based on a savings made compared to "list price" you might actually end up paying as much or even more that street price from a discount seller of new items. I've recently seen refurb printers selling for as much or more than I can buy the same printer new. In such a case why risk the very real chance that the device has an intermittent problem that wasn't caught by a technician being rushed along to re-certify a quota of devices each day.

And check the warranties, often the warranty on refurb items is much lower than that on new retail items. That might be a good warning that the factory really doesn't have as much faith in it as they do in a new item.