New or refurbished? (1 Viewer)

[David Pulaski]

I have been looking at various HTibs and have heard great things about the Onkyo HT-S650 which is normally $500.00. I was looking on the onkyo site and noticed that the refurbished HT-S650 is only $329.00. I am very tempted to get that, along with the extended warranty and save myself the 130 dollars. What would you guys recommend?

 

[David Pulaski]

bumpy

 

[Rob Rodier]

Refurbished units usually carry some minor cosmetic defects. If that will not bother you, go for it. I have bought a bunch of refurbished stuff and had good luck. Significant savings in your case as well.

I would double check the return policy to be safe. You should get 30 days.


-rob

 

[David Pulaski]

I was going to get the extended warranty to insure no problems.

 

[David Pulaski]

bumo

 

[RayJK]

Extended warranties in general are a waste of money, even more so for a refurbished item. A refurb has already had the first point of failure identified and repaired. Statistically this means a unit will last longer because the second point of failure happens less frequently. JMHO.

 

[Rob Rodier]

I would highly reccomend the extended warranty. The fact is that all most manf is going to do is fix the problem enough so that it gets through qc. A worst case example would be something like problem A is caused a failure, they would fix the failure but not problem A. A few weeks down the road, bingo.
I actually used to work on refurbs for a major manf (that we all know, a higher end name as well.) and was suprised at the system. All that the engineers do is identify the solution, they are not the ones soldering in new chips, or switching out bad parts. Unfortunatly the people that are on the front lines do not have the skill or knowledge to do things right. Then the qc process is reduced to look only for the problem that the unit was sent in for. It does not go through a full functional test again.
The bottom line is if there were multiple problems that the consumer did not identify than qc would not pick it up. At least this was the case at my former employer. These companies are much more concerned with their bottom line.
If you don't get a 2 year, than buy the extended warranty, especially on a refurb.
-rob

 

[David Pulaski]

It comes with a 1 year warranty so you do not think that is enough? It would save me 170 dollars which is the only reason why I am considering the refurb.

 

[Rob Rodier]

I would go for it. Make sure that you give things a good look over immediately. Like I said before, given the chance I will buy a refurb every time.

While we are at it, I will mention harmanaudio.com. They have tons of hk/jbl stuff, all with two year warranties. If you havent already, it is worth a look.

Otherwise, a year is sufficient with a name like Onkyo.

good luck
-rob

 

[David Pulaski]

Any other advice or opinions?

 

[Tom Kindel]

I've bought several refurb and store demo units over the years with excellent luck...Aiwa, Samsung, Onkyo and Marantz.

Like a poster above, I work for a large contract repair company for computer networking equipment, and as he says, most returned gear is only analyzed for the customer reported problem...but before any unit is sent back out for actual use, it is run through all outgoing QA tests and in most cases is upgraded to most current specs (but not always). Not every company does this.

My most recent demo acquisition is a Marantz SR9200 (at half MSRP) receiver and it is a KICK A## unit. It's fresh back from Marantz after being upgraded to THX Ultra2 and has paperwork stating that it was fully re-calibrated. They even replaced the front face panel after one of their techs scratched the original!

Just make sure any refurb or demo unit has a reasonable return policy...just in case you get a lemon, or at least be willing to possibly eat the cost or get it repaired.

 

[David Pulaski]

It comes wiht a 1 year warranty.