Is new better than refurbished?

The answer is: it depends on the item. Some items have a finite life time. For example, a hard drive has an estimated life span. If it dies within the warrany, the customer sends it back to the company. The company will replace it and then refurbish the old one. However, chances are good that the refurbished one will not last as long as a new one. The same goes for monitors. A picture tube will only last so long. Unless part of the refurbishing was putting in a new tube, chances are a refurbished monitor will not last as long as a new one.

When you can buy a new monitor with 3 year warranty for $150 or a refurbished monitor with 90 day warranty for $100, what kind of choice is that? It is like buying a lottery ticket for $100 where first prize is $150. If you "win" and the monitor does last 3 years (which would be extremely rare) you have saved $50 over the cost of a new one. That is only if both monitors were identical. Chances are the new one is a better monitor than the old one because improvements in design are being made every day. In that case, you have saved nothing. And if the refurb dies after a year, you have lost money.

Now let us compare a new vs. a refurb digital camera, where both cameras are the identical model. A camera does not necessarily have a life span. Other than obsolesence because a better model replaced it, there is no reason why a camera can not last for decades. Also, unlike a refurbished hard drive or monitor, these cameras will not be several years old. They simply haven't been around that long. Unlike a hard drive or monitor, there is no platter or tube to fail. Cameras are built of solid-state components. Maybe a switch failed and had to be replaced. Maybe the battery or smartmedia door broke and had to be re-attached, Maybe there was a loose connection that had to be tightened. Repairs in this case are typically mechanical things that are replaced and there is no reason why they should fail again. In any case, the repair was made and the camera was tested before it was shipped to the dealer. When you buy a new camera, it was not tested. No one tests each and every camera made. One out of perhaps a thousand is actually checked. With a refurbished camera, that specific camera was tested. We then re-test it before we sell it. We upgrade it to the latest firmware drivers. Incidentally, of all the PDR-M5s we sold, none of the new ones ever came with the latest drivers.

But here's an amazing fact - Most of the cameras sent to Toshiba's repair center are in PERFECT WORKING ORDER! There is nothing to repair. Many stores offer a 10 day return policy. So a customer buys a digital camera, takes it on vacation, downloads his photos and then returns it, saying it is defective. Or wife yells at hubby that they can't afford a digital camera and back it goes. Or buyer finds it cheaper elsewhere and returns it. Because they have been opened, all of these get sent back to Toshiba for refurbishing. In many cases, refurbishing consists of making sure it works and that all components are in the box.

Other than the sticker on the box, it is impossible to tell a new camera from a refurb. There are even unscrupulous dealers who will sell refurbs as new. The only way the customer ever finds out is if they need repair. Toshiba will check the serial number and then inform the poor buyer that the camera had already been in for a repair.

Personally, I was using a refurb for a long time and so are many friends and relatives to whom I recommended this money-saving purchase. I used my refurbished camera to take the sample photos shown Click for sample photos

However, it is becoming harder to recommend refurbs in view of recent changes to the digital camera industry. 1) Newer cameras are usually better then the older models and 2) newer cameras are usually cheaper than the older models. Like computers and other electronic items, improvements in the manufacturing process mean that the newer items are better AND cheaper. When the Toshiba PDR-M5 carried an $800 price tag and refurbs were $500 or less, it made sense to buy a refurb. But the M5 was replaced with the M65, a better camera that sold for under $400. Then the M65 was replaced with the M25, which sells for under $300. Does it make sense to buy a refurbished M5 for when you can buy a brand new M25 for the same price? We don't think so. Just because it had an $800 price tag does not mean it is a better camera that the cheaper M25. But many unscrupulous dealers are still mentioning the original list price as if this was a factor. They might as well say a refurbished 286 is a better deal than a new Pentium because a 286 had a higher list price when it first came out. So our recommendation on refurbished cameras is: 1) it must be a recent camera, not one which was discontinued months ago 2) it must have at least a 30 day warranty, 90 days is even better 3) you should save at least 20% off of the selling price (not the list price). If all three factors are met, you might be getting a good deal. Just remember that with improved manufacturing processes and falling prices, you can probably get an even better deal in a new camera.