How safe is factory refurbished? Worth the savings? Personal experiences w/them?

[BoostedA4]

I'm currently in the process of getting a decent home theater setup (at least for how much money I can invest). I am most likely going to purchase the Onkyo HTS760, but lately I've been looking at lots of sites that offer factory refurbished. Although it would cost me almost $200 more, I could get a decent component setup but it would be factory refurbished.

Take Onkyo, for example. I can get their TX-SR601 receiver, which has gotten great reviews, for $360. Then I could head to other sites and buy some speakers for a few hundred more that are reconditioned, giving me an awesome system for my wants/needs. Also, I can get the entire Onkyo HTS760, plus their bottom of the line DVD player for all less than I would pay for just the theater system new. The catch, of course, is that they are factory reconditioned.

So what I'm asking you all, is how trustworthy are factory reconditioned products? Is it worth the money I save from new to get one of these? Some cases it's as much as a 50% discount. Should items from certain companies be trusted more than others? Is buying an extended warranty needed (which in some cases might negate the slight savings over a new item)?

Anyone who has personal experience with a factory refurbished item, please share. Thanks,

[yakkosmurf]

I had my first experience last year. I bought a Sony 9000ES DVD player that was factory refurbished at the Sony outlet store. It came with a 5 year warranty. After 1 year of operation, I've had no problems with it. I'm sure the quality of refurbs varies a little with the different manufacturers, so don't be too put off by a bad experience with a brand other than what you're looking at.

[jackz4000]

on what you want, who the manufacturer is, the details of the warranty and your level of patience. I run a large ski house and have 4 various audio/video systems for my guests. I have purchased a couple items from HK/Infinity and found them to be a very solid deal with excellent product support.

When you are saving 50% or more, one should expect a problem to possibly arise and the need to ship it to the factory or the nearest repair center for warranty work. I also have a small Altec Lansing speaker system and they were excellent, even though my full warranty had recently expired. Both they and HK were very interested in customer satisifaction. And went above and beyond to help and solve the problems.

No experience with Onkyo---although they are a quality manufacturer, who I am sure stand behind their products. I think that the better the grade of the manufacturer....the better their support will be for their product.

When I buy a refurb at a significant discount---I already have the mental outlook that something could go wrong. Which is exactly what I feel when I buy something that isn't a refurb. I just save a couple $$$.

[nick4433]

At one time I loved the way the NAD T-752 sounded and gave up on it because of many problems. About a couple of months ago, my dealer informed me of refurbished T752s with the latest software and I purchased one and have absolutely no problems with it so far. That is the only refurbished experience I have.

[poneal]

I have noticed from browsing on ebay that harman kardon has an online ebay store called harman audio. They sell factory refurbished speakers from infinity, jbl, and of course harman kardon. They state that their refurbished equipement comes with the original factory warranty. I would check them out.

[magictooth]

Hi!

I bought an Onkyo Integra 7.2 receiver last year refurbed from the manufacturer. No problems since then. Definitely worth saving the extra $600US. As with the other posters, I'd definitely keep in mind that the receiver may blow up at any time, but I think that the savings more than justify the small risk that you're taking.

The way I look at it is that if I buy the product used or refurbed, I still have that other half or more of the money that I would have spent on a new product just in case the component craps out on me. So far, I've had no problems with a used DVDP, power amp (a great deal - new was $5000Cdn, but used was $1600 Cdn), receiver, and satellite receiver. The only piece I ever had problems with was the new HK receiver bought at the local big box.

Dave

[jackz4000]

Ya got to be careful just who you are buying from and if the warranty will be valid. Especially on Ebay or any online auction. It may not have a valid USA warranty. Buyer beware.

That you have to factor into the price. Good to be repair conscious when factoring the price. Also, if unwarrantied, good to have a friendly audio repair shop nearby who will work with you on the repair price.

Refurbs? You can save a bundle, but you better do your research on what you want to buy, the manufacturer and the seller. You could get stuck with something unrepairable (cost $ wise) and have a piece of junk---or an anchor laying around the house.

[Mysterio]

Hey Boosted,

Sorry I didn't see this question before I responded to your pm.

Hadn't logged in today.

Read my response, I'm definately satisfied with my refurbished TX-SR600 direct from Onkyo.

Mysterio

[Geoffcin]

Factory refurbished is usually BETTER in quality than NIB. How can that be? All returned items have to be thoughly tested, and fixed by a tech. This means that the item will be burned in, and any other problems that there may be would come to light. The tech signs off on the piece, and you have a calibrated, tested consumer electronic. Almost all of the NIB stuff you see from the major manufacturers NEVER get tested by a human. Your the test tech on the electronics you buy, only you've got to pay for it before you get the pleasure of seeing if it works correctly.

[twwesn]

As a former consumer electronics employee it just brings to mind the thought of customers buying display computers. I never hesitated at selling one of our displays (although it was a pain tearing it down) because I knew that the SOB worked!!! Out of the box was a crap shoot quite a lot of the time. Personally I've purchased refurbs and have had no problems.

[Worf101]

delicate items like receivers or DVD's. My first receiver was an Onkyo 787. I thought I was getting a great price on ebay. I wasn't looking closely. It wasn't until after I'd won the bid that I noticed it was refurbed. Nothing but problems from the start. Eventually had to send it out $250.00 and 2 months later it came back. Now doing service in an ex-girlfriends system. I'll never do refurb for big ticket items again.

Da Worfster

[This Guy]

I purchased a JVC receiver refurbished on Ubid for $100 when i just started getting into this stuff, it served me well for 2 years when I decided I wanted something better, the JVC still worked liked new. Then I bought a refurbished Marantz receiver from AC4l.com and it looks and runs like brand new, notice accessories4less.com is an authorized dealer for Marantz, which was a main concern for me in buying a receiver online, had to be an authorized dealer. I also bought an Audiosource amp three that looks and runs like brand new. Bought that about a year ago, and the only thing I need to do for that is buy a ground loop islotor for the HUM from the sub, not the amplifier's fault though.however when I was getting into all this stuff and was anxious to put my system together, I bought a refurbished no name brand dvd player from ubid that never powered up, I did get all my money back though. So if you're going to buy a refurbished item online, hell any electronics item online, make sure it's from an authorized dealer and play it safe.

-Joey