Refurbished 70-400

[lhg]

Adorama currently lists a 70-400/4L as "refurbished by Canon USA"

that is $80 cheaper than their price for the regular, new one with

USA warranty. What are these refurbished lenses ? Are they lemons

that were returned by discriminating buyers ?

[bellavance]

70-200/4L?

 

Pierre

[lhg]

yes yes 70-200/4L. Typo. Sorry.

[bellavance]

I guess you'll never know... will $80 change your life?

 

Pierre

[brian_donaldson1]

$80? Buy new and have no worries.

[digitmstr]

I have bought 2 EOS3s and 1v as well as an Ef 200mm f/2.8L USM from the Canon refurb/demo dpt. All of it worked great in fact, it's like having a cleaning and ck up service for free while at the same time paying lees for the item. My Stuff came with a mix of 3/6/12 mos warranties.

 

I think that Adorama also offers their 1 yr warranty as well...it's worth thinking about it.

[digitmstr]

All Canon refurbs are cked and tested to perform up to original factory specs...just so you know. That is why I said it's like having a free ckup and cleaning service.

[tal_marcu]

If the lens had no problems it wouldn't need a clean, right ?

The "refurbished" products are not new - they are "like new".

I would pay the extra $80 and get a new one.

You could never know what were the original problems of these "refurbished" products.

[digitmstr]

>>If the lens had no problems it wouldn't need a clean, right ?<<

 

NOT! Do you clean YOUR lenses only if they have a problem?

 

All refurb'd products from Canon (and some other companies) tested and cleaned to insure that they are exactly ***up to origianl specs***. That is why they come with a warranty.

 

Refurb products are NOT necessarily *used*. They may have been demos in shows, etc... Because they cannot legally be sold as "new" they are sold as refurb'd. That is a term which, in Canon case, entails having the item 'serviced'.

 

Contrary to popular belief an item is not serviced ONLY when it's broken or faulty. One can have cameras and lenses checked over time for a variety of reasons. For example, every so often I have my camera and lenses serviced. All that means is that they are cleaned and checked to insure they are ***up to spec***.

 

Because the refurb items usually come with a factory warranty it's NOT a bad idea at all to purchase them.

[aljaz_.]

I bought the 70-200/f4L, the same model you are asking about, refurbished from Adorama some two years ago. It looked (and still does) like new, came with a "Canon refurbished" sticker, and works as if it never left the box. For a while I was looking into the lens until I found a shiny spot. No one else could see it and I couldn't get a second-party oppinion on whether the spot would affect the performance. I now think all lenses have shiny spots inside if you look long enough (impossible to avoid when producing fluorite/UD/etc. elements?). My amateur eyes checking the velvia's find its performance excellent, on par with my 50/f1.4, and I would not shy away from buying another "refurbished" lens at an 80$ saving.

 

That said, I was a bit dissapointed with Adorama. They forgot to include the lens shade and I had to go back to pick it up.

 

I say you go for it. You will get a return option and 3 months warranty. Let me (us) know if you were unhappy with the lens.