Experience with Canon Refurbished DSLRs?

Canon is offering some good prices on refurbished DSLR models. Anyone have an experience with Canon refurbished equipment?

Dr Bob

I have purchased my last three DSLR camera as Canon refurbished units and have been extremely happy with them. Just make sure that they are Canon refurbished units, not cameras that have been returned to a camera store, given a perfunctory look-over and declared "refurbished".

Canon has good prices on refurbished cameras but, if Adorama in New York City has a refurbished unit that you want in stock, i would suggest buying from them. Usually, the prices at Adorama are very close to Canon prices and you are not charges sales tax when purchasing from Adorama. Additionally, shipping is usually free from Adorama and Adorama increases the Canon 90-day warranty on refurbished gear to a full-year with their own warranty.

The Canon efurbished cameras at Adorama are listed at: http://www.adorama.com/SearchSite/De...urbished+Canon

The T3i is selling at Adorama for $599 USD while the 60D is selling for $749.

Canon is selling the refurbished T3i body for $543 but the shipping, sales tax and extended warranty would IMO make the Adorama model a better buy. The Canon price for a 60D is $679 so you might want to crunch the numbers a bit to see if Canon is a better buy than Adorama or visa-versa.

I would suggest that the 60D is worth the additional $150 or so over the T3i if you can afford it.

Thanks rpcrowe, that is great information. I will check out the Adorama site and crunch the numbers. Like several posts I have seen, I am considering the 60D or 7D. It's just a "wish" at this stage but if the price is right, I may fulfill my wish sooner rather than later.

Dr Bob

I would recommend calling the Canon Loyalty program at (866)-443-8002 to see what they presently have in stock and what you need to trade in to get a refurbished DSLR. I have found that the Canon Web Site is not always quite up-to-date regarding the Loyalty Program and what it offers.

I traded in a broken 10D and the 7D I received was pretty darn inexpensive. I don't remember exactly how much I paid for the camera but, it was about $1,100 U.S. Dollars, give or take.

I have recently looked at the difference on Canon's website in prices between the T3i and the 60D. The 60D seems to cost about $150 moe than the T3i. IMO, the $150 extra is well worth it considering the 60D capabilities...

Canon also has cameras with lenses and lenses alone as refurbs. The 18-55mm kit lens is just about given away when purchased with a camera. The price seems to be about $68 or so. The kit lens is not the best lens out there but, can do most jobs fairly adequately.

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Originally Posted by Dr Bob

Canon is offering some good prices on refurbished DSLR models. Anyone have an experience with Canon refurbished equipment?

Dr Bob

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All refurbished Canon units sold by Adorama Camera come with a 12-month return-to-Adorama warranty and are factory refurbished by the manufacturer, for example, Canon cameras are refurbished at their manufacturing plant in Newport News, VA.; the room that houses Canon’s entire refurb process is said to be completely dust-free, and with every employee working in there being required to wear special booties! The warranty we give covers anything the manufacturers warranty covers for a new unit, including shutter defects.

They will have been checked over by the manufacturer by hand, inspected very thoroughly, diagnosed, and calibrated by experienced technicians, and could therefore turn out to be more dependable than a new item - which will only have been checked by a process of systematic quality control protocol (ie by random sampling as it comes off the conveyor belt).

Refurbs can have simply been pulled from the production line if something appears faulty, or if they haven’t passed the final inspection. Most of the time it is a very minor issue that needs correcting, nevertheless, once it is pulled from the normal flow of production, it gets flagged as a refurbished model, so you may get a unit straight from the factory that has never been used. (I have one myself, and for sure it was factory-fresh!)

A refurb may also be an ex-store demo, possibly used in field tests or sales displays, or it may have been ordered in error and returned to the retailer (who can't then sell it as 'new' so it has to be sent back to the manufacturer for refurbishment).

All other refurbs sold by Adorama come with a 90-day return-to-manufacturer warranty.
In addition, Refurbs come into us with the firmware updates and latest fixes which were carried out at whatever stage it was at when we took delivery.

If you need additional firmware updates you can download them, but for any hardware fixes the unit would have to be sent to Canon.
[By the way, if you send a camera (any camera) to Canon for any hardware work, they will always update the firmware].


As to the individual history of a single item, the honest answer is we have no way of knowing. Refurbished equipment is not like new inventory; the manufacturers contact us when they have a batch to sell, and the availability is unpredictable. However, if you were to ask my personal opinion on whether the equipment that Adorama offers as refurbished is typically less than a year old, based on the regularity with which we receive batches, I'd be inclined to think it is all relatively new.

I hope this helps, but you are most welcome to email me directly: Helen@adorama.com if you need additional information or advice.

Helen Oster
Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador

Thanks Helen. That is great information on Adorama's refurbished equipment and policy. I have purchased a few new lenses from Adorama and your website and customer service has been excellent.

Dr Bob

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Originally Posted by Dr Bob

Thanks Helen. That is great information on Adorama's refurbished equipment and policy. I have purchased a few new lenses from Adorama and your website and customer service has been excellent.

Dr Bob

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Delighted to hear it!

Thanks so much for the feedback :)