Absolutely. Most of my tools have come that way. The price deltas can be significant particularly if you pay attention to the sales. I did buy a 5DsR that abruptly went bad. Infant death is unpredictable. They promptly refunded my money. So from a pro with at least 5 major refurb purchases - go for it!
just bought the 16-35 2.8 III from canon refurb store during the recent additional 15% off... indistinguishable from new, one year warranty, really nice price ($1500), definitely will do it again.
In the past I have purchases several items refurbished by Canon and they were all just fine.
Dan
Frazier wrote:
Sadly, I'm not a man of great means I've been saving all my pennies for quite some time now, and Canon Refurbished pricing puts the 5D Mark IV nearly within my reach. My question is, can the quality be trusted? If you have had experience with the program (bodies or lenses), I would greatly appreciate you sharing your story with me.
Thank You!!
-Matt
p.s. I ran a brief search, but didn't find a thread about the product quality/reliability as a whole. If it's there, and I missed it, please feel free to flog me accordingly
artificialyello wrote:
Refurbs are cleaned up gear sent back by end users or unsellable demos from stores. That that's sent back is per definition rejected! HTH... :-))
Out of the myriad of refurbs I have purchased (bodies), 5 of them had under 100 shutter actuations. So if this falls under your definition, it matters little, because they were like new. Only one had 19K clicks on it. Also, you cannot return just a body from a body/lens kit, so your comment about free lenses sounds a bit off. I know of no retailer or online retailer that would accept a partial kit back from a customer.
We have collectively hundreds of real world experiences with the Canon refurb program, going back a decade. So again whatever concerns you are throwing out to the masses due to theoretical descriptions, just doesn't align with so many experiences across the years. It's too bad the program isn't offered to other countries like Sweden, your input might be more reasonable if you were able to take advantage of the program.
artificialyello wrote:
Refurbs are per definition used and rejected gear... Some folks buy two and free lenses and the rejects ends up as refurbs... Is the price really right? YMMV.
TeamSpeed wrote:
Also, you cannot return just a body from a body/lens kit, so your comment about free lenses sounds a bit off. I know of no retailer or online retailer that would accept a partial kit back from a customer.
I think what the poster meant was buying "two or THREE lenses" eg buying multiple copies, keeping the best one, and returning the others, which then come back out as refurbished.
My 5DIII & 5DsR bodies are refurbs direct from Canon . The 5DIII was indishingable from new. It had the clear protective stickers applied to the rear screens and came in a plain white box. On the other hand the 5DsR did not have the protective stickers and had a what appeared to be a small nick in the paint near the top corner of the rear screen that had been touched up with matching black paint and some very faint, difficult to detect, micro scratches at the at same corner of the screen. Since the camera works beautifully I kept it. Believe me I tried to find some other reason to send back and couldn't so didn't.
The funny part is that the 5DsR arrived in a retail Powershot (of some sort) box whereupon first sight I said to myself "I hope that's NOT what's inside there! " followed by a sigh of relief upon opening!
Since I have to pay sales tax, I try to buy only during their crazzily discounted "fire sale". I have bought at least 3 bodies and 4 lenses from the Canon refurb store and they all look and functioned like new. The latest 80D had about 1,000 clicks on it but I tested it thoroughly and found no problems so I kept it.
Aside from being shipped in a brown box, everything appears to be the same and had the standard one year Canon warranty.
The only thing that I noticed on all the bodies is what appears to be a shallow pin prick close to the first digit of the serial number.
Yes, I will buy again when they put what I like on sale
Never had an issue with a refurbished product, but sales tax is kind of annoying when B&H and Adorama don't charge it assuming you're outside of NY.
What I would say is that the 5D IV has been quite cheap refurbished every so often (around 2350), but you need to act fast. I would also suggest saving 1000 and getting a 5D III used as the IV has lots of minor improvements over the III, but nothing in my opinion that will make you regret buying the III.
I actually purchased the 5D IV refurbished when the price dropped to 2350ish and returned it and decided to stick with the three. I just couldn't justify the price difference, even if it was a good deal. The refurbished model was absolutely perfect...no issues at all. I wouldn't hesitate to buy refurbished.
tsangc wrote:
I think what the poster meant was buying "two or THREE lenses" eg buying multiple copies, keeping the best one, and returning the others, which then come back out as refurbished.
Big difference between free and three, but that matters little, refurbs are still great deals regardless of the pathways the bodies and lenses took to get to Canon only to subsequently end up in my gear bag.
I would be buying all refurbished if I could. But living in Canada I can't Now that Canon has a full 1 year warranty on them (that wasn't always the case) they are just like new (minus the retail box).
I've purchased several refurbished bodies from Canon, an SL1 and a 1DXII and several lenses. No problems whatsoever, although I've used the 1DXII for only 1,000 frames so far. The items are outwardly indistinguishable from "new" in original box.
I normally buy from my local "real" store when time is critical and I seriously need (or think I seriously need) a hard-to-get product that is just out (5DIV, 100-400 II, 16-35 f/4). But I wouldn't hesitate to buy refurb from Canon again.
My experience with service has been limited, since I've had no problems whatsoever. My experience with the order process has been excellent, and the order desk has been very flexible and responsive.
It is always intriguing to see how Canon USA packs items for shipping (both refurb direct sales and CPS items). The favored crushed heavy paper seems less protective than what I and others use when shipping camera gear. But there has never been a function problem. It suggests Canon is confident its products are pretty sturdy. So far, so good.
I've been purchasing Canon refurbished gear for years. I've never gotten anything that could be distinguished from new.
None has been marked "refurbished" in any obvious way. I do believe Canon's database "knows" which serial numbers were sold as refurbished gear, but that's irrelevant because they carry the same warranty as new gear.
As others have pointed out, there are many reasons why a given piece of equipment might have been returned. Old stock, shelf demos, buyer's remorse, whatever. It also may have been found defective. None of that bothers me. At minimum every lens and camera I've bought from Canon has been cleaned up and tested. The defectives have been repaired to work as-new. So my opinion is: go for it.
I've bought many refurbished Canon lenses and a couple of cameras and every one of them have been perfect!
Just last week I bought the new Canon EF 24-105mm F/4L Version II lens through Canon's refurbished website and the lens came in a different box than the original box, but the lens looks like brand new and performs beautifully! It's a lot sharper than the Sigma 24-105mm Art I returned (not refurbished) and was very disappointed in. It comes w/ I believe the same warranty as a new lens at a fraction of the price.
I used to buy only new, but several years ago, I switched to refurbished and sometimes used, but used doesn't usually have the manufacturer warranty. I really feel it's the way to go. Figure out what camera you want, what lenses you want to support your camera, and then plan out your budget. Many times you have to wait for a specific lens to become available, but B&H will sell refurbished lenses as well. I don't think you get the same price, but they may be more available.
If you plan ahead which lenses you want, you can watch Canon's website for the lenses you want so that when they're available, you're ready to jump on them. Sometimes, they're available for a while, like the one I just bought, and sometimes, they're only available for a few hours.
The best thing about buying refurbished is that it makes the "L" professional-grade lenses and FF cameras much more affordable if you're on a tighter budget. That alone makes it much more worthwhile.
moondigger wrote:
I've been purchasing Canon refurbished gear for years. I've never gotten anything that could be distinguished from new.
None has been marked "refurbished" in any obvious way. I do believe Canon's database "knows" which serial numbers were sold as refurbished gear, but that's irrelevant because they carry the same warranty as new gear.
As others have pointed out, there are many reasons why a given piece of equipment might have been returned. Old stock, shelf demos, buyer's remorse, whatever. It also may have been found defective. None of that bothers me. At minimum every lens and camera I've bought from Canon has been cleaned up and tested. The defectives have been repaired to work as-new. So my opinion is: go for it....Show more →
On lenses, look at the mount....you will see those round holes in the mount....the refurbs are painted red inside the hole. No red on the new ones.
On bodies, look for the serial number...you will see a pimple or dimple (or dot) pressed into the metal that contains the serial number. No dot on the new ones.
If they had tagged refurbs by serial number only, there would be no need for the above.
Bought several items - not only Canon related - refurbished and all worked and appeared as new. Only difference is that they are not shipped in the original item's box which to me makes no difference. Not sure if this is correct, but I think refurbished might also be used by manufacturers to empty some items for clearance for a discounted price.
Another vote for refurbished. I've bought 2 bodies, 1 lens, and 2 flashes from Canon refurbished. The 60D had under 20 clicks on it (not sure about the 80D). All items looked and performed like new. If you have time, hold out for one of the 10% or 15% off sales.
I've been saving all my pennies for quite some time now, and Canon Refurbished pricing puts the 5D Mark IV nearly within my reach. My question is, can the quality be trusted? If you have had experience with the program (bodies or lenses), I would greatly appreciate you sharing your story with me.
" followed by a sigh of relief upon opening!