Refurbished Items
 

Anyone have any experience with these type of items? Is it worth the big reduction in price?

I tend to avoid refurb units. Only thing I ever got was my Tivo refurbished and that lasted 3+ years (still works, just don't use it). Never had any problems with it.

I have a refurbed Canon SLR and it's been working great.

I have no problems with refurbs, but there are items I would never buy refurbed, mainly certain computer parts and some electronics.

I bought my PS2 refurbished about 7 years ago and haven't had a single problem with it.

As long as they have a good warranty, go for it. Just give them a good thrashing before the warranty period expires.

I've never bought a refurbished item that had a warranty. It's always 'as is'. If you can find one with an acceptable warranty I'd say go for it.

Oh yeah what about recertified items? Pretty much the same thing or better?

Recertified is a buzz word that makes a consumer think that an item has been thoroughly inspected and fixed. It's kind of like refurbished, but the difference between the two varies between retailers.

It just comes down to warranty vs. no warranty.

What about LCD monitors for computers?

I'd buy it. Just make sure it doesn't have dead pixels when you first turn it on (then again you'd do that with any monitor, new/refurbed/used).

I'm looking at a Dell S2309w which is $160 free shipping but is refurbished and only has a 60 day warranty. I don't know if 23 inches will be overkill though. I've been rocking the 15 inch for years now and I saw a HP 2009m 20 inch and measuring up and down it doesn't seem any bigger than my 15 inch but of course diagonally it's 20 inches.

15" to 23" would be a massive difference if you like to have a lot of windows open; the extra real estate is nice in that situation.

For $160, I'd say go for it.

You'd be surprised how much it'd make a difference.

Similarly, I always thought two monitors were excessive until I hooked another one up. I could never go without a dual setup on my main box now.