Risks buying refurbished i-730 instead of used?

I'm considering buying a used or refurbished i-730 to use with Verizon
(although the product is about 2 years old now, it seems like about
the best of the bunch that I can choose from). I'm wondering about
the average risk of tradeoffs between buying it used, or buying it
refurbished. I'm guessing if the phone is used, it's at least in a
usable state. If the phone is refurbished, it seems like there's a
wide range of opinion about what "refurbished" really means. Anyone
with any practical thoughts about that?

At 07 Mar 2007 14:59:17 -0800 david.karr wrote:
> I'm considering buying a used or refurbished i-730 to use with Verizon
> (although the product is about 2 years old now, it seems like about
> the best of the bunch that I can choose from). I'm wondering about
> the average risk of tradeoffs between buying it used, or buying it
> refurbished. I'm guessing if the phone is used, it's at least in a
> usable state. If the phone is refurbished, it seems like there's a
> wide range of opinion about what "refurbished" really means. Anyone
> with any practical thoughts about that?
>

Generally I prefer refurbs (for the cost savings) IF the unit is a
relatively new model (as is the case w/ the i730) and refurb'd by the
manufacturer itself (usually the case when the item is recent like the
i730.)

The older a product is, the less likely the manufacturer is the one doing
the refurbing I bought a "refurbed" handheld PC a year ago (a 7 year-old
model!) that was refurbed by a third party and was cosmetically very
blemished (cosmetic parts are no longer available for it!) It worked
fine though.

I've never had a problem with any refurb with the exception of a cheap
digital camera that arrived with a bad display and was replaced by the
manufacturer with a good one.

Good luck!