Fullauto_Shooter Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 I will be getting a Nikon 1200 range finder for my B-day. Natchez shooters supply has the new ones for $389 and the refurbished ones for $329. Does anyone here have any experience with refurbished optics? Is the $60 savings worth the potential risk of a non-new unit? Any experience or insight is welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielW Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 (edited) I will be getting a Nikon 1200 range finder for my B-day. Natchez shooters supply has the new ones for $389 and the refurbished ones for $329. Does anyone here have any experience with refurbished optics? Is the $60 savings worth the potential risk of a non-new unit? Any experience or insight is welcome! Not with optics specifically, but I am a big fan of buying factory refurbished anything. You can usually count on the the condition exactly as new, perhaps minus fancy packaging (A lot of stuff that gets sold as "refurb" are straight returns, check and re certified as new again by the manufacturer). One thing to check would be how warranty is affected, if that is important to you - sometimes this is reduced on a factory refurb item (i.e. you'll get 90 days instead of a year, etc). Edited January 5, 2011 by DanielW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullauto_Shooter Posted January 6, 2011 Author Share Posted January 6, 2011 I will be getting a Nikon 1200 range finder for my B-day. Natchez shooters supply has the new ones for $389 and the refurbished ones for $329. Does anyone here have any experience with refurbished optics? Is the $60 savings worth the potential risk of a non-new unit? Any experience or insight is welcome! Not with optics specifically, but I am a big fan of buying factory refurbished anything. You can usually count on the the condition exactly as new, perhaps minus fancy packaging (A lot of stuff that gets sold as "refurb" are straight returns, check and re certified as new again by the manufacturer). One thing to check would be how warranty is affected, if that is important to you - sometimes this is reduced on a factory refurb item (i.e. you'll get 90 days instead of a year, etc). Thanks for the perspective - great tip to check on the warranty also. Anyone else have experience or opinions on refurbished optics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullauto_Shooter Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 No one has ever bought a refurbished optic? Still on the fence about this one, but must decide in the next week or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 No one has ever bought a refurbished optic? Still on the fence about this one, but must decide in the next week or so. I've bought 3 from Midway, they all perforemd like new for me. But I got like a 35% discount off the regular price. Have you looked at the Bushnell line of range finders? In the same price range as the Nikons, I think they are a better unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullauto_Shooter Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 No one has ever bought a refurbished optic? Still on the fence about this one, but must decide in the next week or so. I've bought 3 from Midway, they all perforemd like new for me. But I got like a 35% discount off the regular price. Have you looked at the Bushnell line of range finders? In the same price range as the Nikons, I think they are a better unit. Thanks Mark - good to know that you had a good experience with refurbs. I checked out the Bushnell's, but most folks I've talked with recommended the Nikons. What is it about the Bushnell's you like better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mds131s Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 I bought a refurbished BSA optic super cheap for a .22 and have had great luck with it. I would not be afraid to purchase that optic at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Thanks Mark - good to know that you had a good experience with refurbs. I checked out the Bushnell's, but most folks I've talked with recommended the Nikons. What is it about the Bushnell's you like better? Background, I hunt, a lot. I rarely range my own shots, but I do for a lot of folks I take hunting. I've found the Bushnells to be basically equal, or outperform the Nikons in the field in every category. The Nikons produce more false readings in fog, rain, dust, grass than the Bushnells. I took both out to the surveying filed where I had exact known distances and the Bushnell gave proper readings, the Nikon was off by a few yards on some markers. I have the original battery in mine, and it is 6 years old now, you better change the battery every year on the Nikons. At -10, my Bushnell worked, the Leupold and Nikons did not. I would own a Nikon scope and not a Bushnell scope, but Bushnell got the rangefinders right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullauto_Shooter Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 Thanks Mark - good to know that you had a good experience with refurbs. I checked out the Bushnell's, but most folks I've talked with recommended the Nikons. What is it about the Bushnell's you like better? Background, I hunt, a lot. I rarely range my own shots, but I do for a lot of folks I take hunting. I've found the Bushnells to be basically equal, or outperform the Nikons in the field in every category. The Nikons produce more false readings in fog, rain, dust, grass than the Bushnells. I took both out to the surveying filed where I had exact known distances and the Bushnell gave proper readings, the Nikon was off by a few yards on some markers. I have the original battery in mine, and it is 6 years old now, you better change the battery every year on the Nikons. At -10, my Bushnell worked, the Leupold and Nikons did not. I would own a Nikon scope and not a Bushnell scope, but Bushnell got the rangefinders right. Thanks for the great review. Thought I had it all figured out, but now you've given me other options to consider. Is there a specific model of Bushnell that you recommend? I'm looking for one that'll work to at least 1000. I'm not into LR shooting yet, but don't want to buy a shorter-range unit only to have to upgrade later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Thanks for the great review. Thought I had it all figured out, but now you've given me other options to consider. Is there a specific model of Bushnell that you recommend? I'm looking for one that'll work to at least 1000. I'm not into LR shooting yet, but don't want to buy a shorter-range unit only to have to upgrade later. I have an older version they no longer make. Mine is a 1500 with ARC, so like between the current Legend 1200 and the Elite 1500. I've used both and they are very similar to mine. If I had to buy one toady, I'd probably get the Legend since ARC is useful for me hunintg. IF you don't hunt, ARC is not that useful since you will have dope. I've not tried the Fusion yet, but I want to. In my experience, there are some pretty real differences in rangefinders in groups, and in the budget category, (1000 yards and in, $350 and under) I like the Bushnell. The next bump takes you to the $500 to $600 range and then it gets crazy. http://www.bushnell.com/products/rangefinders/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpeltier Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 +1 to what MarkCO is recomending. I have used many of the rangefinders mentioned and I would recomend the Bushnell as well. I use the scout 1000. Without ARC. It was under $300.00. As far as refurbished optics goes, I have always had the question "why do they have refurbished?" what was wrong in the first place that they have enough to offer refurbished? It always gives me pause, and i typically avoid them. The last thing I want with optics is someone elses problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Bond Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Years ago when we were all shooting Aimpoints on open guns, the refurbished scopes were better than the new ones as all the controls were beefed up when you sent them back. Also many of the refurbished models get more attention than assembly line stuff since the vendor has a specialst who fixes the problem and tests the thing as opposed to an assembly line where one person is putting on one part and sending it on down the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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