Digicams: Refurbs... Are they a good deal?

[BlindedByTheLite]

some of you might remember my semi-recent inquiring about digicams, and my journey still hasn't ended.

recently (5 minutes ago) i found that Abe's of Maine has a couple refurbished models of the Nikon Coolpix 5700 in stock for $440.

@ first glance, to me in all my uneducated glory, it would appear to be a good bargain. but i'm not @ all familiar with digicam refurbishing.

would you, as an experienced digicam user, call this a yay or nay deal? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif

Edit:
Abe's of Maine also appears to have other refurbs like the Fuji Finepix 3000 for $150, the Minolta Dimage Z1 for $190, and the Fuji Finepix S5000 for $250, in case refurbs aren't bad buys and someone's looking for a decent knock-around camera without developing an immediate "price-attachment" to their camera.

 

[Negeltu]

I have two digicams... one is a minolta 8MP and the other is a Toshiba 4MP... Bother were bought refurbished from ubid.com. Helluva deal and they both work great even today. The minolta didn't have a mark on it... the toshiba had a little tiny mark on the top... no big deal.

 

[BlindedByTheLite]

thanks /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif
i might have to jump on the Coolpix 5700 then!

 

[Nitroz]

First I would check to see if there is some 30 day warranty at least to make sure that the camera is ok. Some refurbs come with factory warranty, but definitly check.

 

[BlindedByTheLite]

yeah, it's got a 90 day warranty, so i should be able to run it thru the drills and make sure everything's cool.

it also comes with a decent amount of accessories, too.

i feel all giddy, and i don't even have the money for it yet. LOL

 

[Samoan]

If you've ever bought anything used then refurbs should be fine for you. It's like used (great price, etc.,) but with a warranty.

I picked up my Canon SD110 second hand and it's always been perfect.

-F

 

[geepondy]

Blinded, unless the camera comes with a lot of very useful accessories such as things like a spare battery and memory card, I don't think that's such a hot deal on that particular camera. In terms of digital camera technology that camera is pretty old now, not to say it isn't capable of taking great pictures. I've used one at work and I found it wasn't very speedy at all in operation and tended to hunt for focus in low light and at telephoto. For your money I think there are better options such as this one,
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz20/

which for about the same money gives image stabilization and a much faster lens. Look at the sample pictures, I'm very impressed. If you don't need the super zoom of the lens, much better other deals for the money are available. I realize you don't have Costco's up there in Northern Maine but at my local MA Costco, they are selling the Nikon 5400, fairly similar to the 5700 but without the long zoom for $300 which I think is a heckuva deal.