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refurbished CRT's yay or nay?

i'd say nay. crts fade with age. they don't last that long, getting a used one...well.. its almost used up😛 i mean u can use it after its half brightness.... but would you really want to?
 
I bought a refurbed Mitsubishi Diamondtron in 2000. I think it was built in 98 or 99. It gave up it's magic smoke about 2 months ago. I just bought a used Hitachi and no problems yet. If you are looking for a big CRT monitor, you can find some pretty cheap ones right now. Alot of people are switching over to LCD and not wanting these monitors that take up half of their desk. I would say as long as it's not from Joes crack shack in the back, and it's CRT not LCD, go for the used or refurb and save some money.
 
A common misconception about the care and feeding of computer monitors is that they should be left on all the time. While there are some advantages to this, there are many more disadvantages:

1. CRT Life: The life of a monitor is determined by the life of the CRT. The CRT is by far the most expensive single part and it is usually not worth repairing a monitor in which the CRT requires replacement. The brightness half-life of a CRT is usually about 10-15 K hours of on time independent of what is being displayed on the screen. 10 K hours is only a little more than a year. By not turning the monitor off at night, you are reducing the life of the monitor by a factor of 2-3. Screen savers do not make any substantial difference especially with modern displays using X-Windows or MS Windows where the screen layout is not fixed. With video display terminals, the text always came up in the same position and eventually burned impressions into the screen phosphor. http://www.monitorworld.com/faq_pages/q16_page.html
 
Realize that "Refurbished" means that the product was returned to the place of purchase/manufacturer for a reason Other than being defective. It must then be retested by the manufacturer or a qualified third party, then resold as "Refurbished". It may not have full warranty though.
If you get a good price, this is the way to go as it has been tested twice (originally and after being returned) and shown to be in good working order both times.
 
It's hit or miss. But personally I would not buy refurbished CRT. Display is the last thing I would skimp on. My general rule is about 1/2 of the total computer budget should be spent on the monitor. I never skimp on the monitor. My eyes are worth lot more to me than couple hundred dollars.
 
Originally posted by: Ike0069
Realize that "Refurbished" means that the product was returned to the place of purchase/manufacturer for a reason Other than being defective. It must then be retested by the manufacturer or a qualified third party, then resold as "Refurbished". It may not have full warranty though.
If you get a good price, this is the way to go as it has been tested twice (originally and after being returned) and shown to be in good working order both times.
Click to expand...

Depending on the manufacturer, "refurbished" hardware may well have been defective and repaired. Some companies make further distinctions (such as 'reconditioned' or 'open-box' or 'factory repaired' as opposed to just 'refurbished'), but some do not. All you can say for certain about 'refurbished' hardware is that it was used to some extent. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. Maybe the person who bought it opened it, didn't like the way it looked, and shipped it right back. Maybe the original user dropped it a couple times and then decided they didn't like it. You just don't know.

With hardware the basically works or doesn't (something like, say, a video card, motherboard, CPU, RAM, etc.), I would be OK buying it refurbished -- as long as I had a chance to examine and test it out, and to return it within a reasonable timeframe if I decided it wasn't up to snuff. In fact, I got my last video card as a refurb off of Newegg, and I've been very happy with it.

However, with something that experiences significant degradation over time (like a monitor, or a hard drive, or a printer), I would shy away from buying a refurb, unless I either had some sort of assurance that it was in like-new condition, or it came with a full warranty.
 
Originally posted by: Matthias99

Depending on the manufacturer, "refurbished" hardware may well have been defective and repaired. Some companies make further distinctions (such as 'reconditioned' or 'open-box' or 'factory repaired' as opposed to just 'refurbished'), but some do not. All you can say for certain about 'refurbished' hardware is that it was used to some extent. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. Maybe the person who bought it opened it, didn't like the way it looked, and shipped it right back. Maybe the original user dropped it a couple times and then decided they didn't like it. You just don't know.
Click to expand...

Now I could be wrong, but I always thought that if it was ever repaired, by law, this MUST be stated in the product description. Now I do realize that even if there is an exact law concerning this, some companies might very well ignore it.
 
hmm yeah I'm always back and forth on the refurb thing- while it's true that refurb means it's "checked twice", that doesn't mean it's checked to higher standards the second time. if somebody returned a low-quality, but not defective display after it got through the first check, chances are that it's going to get through the second check too...but who really knows.

hey has anybody on here worked in any sort of refurb factory? or better yet a CRT refurb factory? what company was it and what kinds of checks did you do?
 
i got a referb 21" Sun CRT 4 years ago for $140, it was my faithful main rig monitor for 3 years until i retired it. It still works as good as the day i bought it, probably the single best investment i ever made.
 
I have been running a refurb sony 20" for about 4 years.. payed 100$ for it along time ago (when they were well about 1k new!! ) best purchase i ever made..
 
I bought a refurbed Sony G500 21" with 5BNC inputs. Bought it knowing that it won't be as bright as the day it rolled off the assembly line, but it only had to last me 6 months before I got the funds to get a 20" LCD. Worked well, and even after I got the LCD I kept it for use with my secondary always-on FTP server rig.

As long as one does not buy a refurb with high expectations, I think it will work out well, particularly as an interim solution.
 
I have refurbished Dell 21" crt, and it works, for one its probably about 5 years old, its a trinitron tube, and it is pretty dim. Compared to my roomates 2 year old Samsung it is downright crappy.
 
I had a referbed 20" Sun CRT that I got for $120, used it for 3 years till I got tired of it's weight bending my desk and replaced it with LCD's but it's still going strong now.
 
I got a returned 15" Sony around 1995 (a steal at $350 then). It still does duty as the basement testbed and works like the day I got it.
New crts are cheaper than they have ever been, so check new prices also to see what the price difference is.

Jim
 
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