New or refurbished ?
 

Been looking at machines lately and several companies have the same machine both new and refurbished with a 6 month warranty on the later. Has anyone ever taken a chance on a refurbished machine and if so, did it work out for you? Or is everyone paying full retail price? A new machine with all the bells and whistles can be very very expensive!

I bought both of my Berninas at a large quilt show so they came with a full warranty but because they were used as demo machines at the show, they are called "open box". Never had any major problem with either one. I would ask for a longer warranty, at least a year. Remember, it is a lot like buying a car so there is always room for negotiating.

I have purchased trade ins and have been very happy. I purchased from a dealer who offered a limited warranty and classes.

I would say that it would depend on the new machine, if it was a new Singer, I'd pass on it, but have been very happy with my refurbished machine, but I did buy it from a dealer.

I bought my used Janome from a dealer paid $300 had nothing
but trouble with it.

Bought both my Brother Innov-Is combo machines from the local
Brother dealer no real problems that wasn't covered under warranty.

I prefer "new". In Cars and machines. I use both for a long time!

sandy

I haven't purchased a refurbished sewing machine, but I did buy my HP printer refurbished, and it has lasted over 10 years, still going strong. I also purchased my Reliable iron refurbished. Both came with a warranty equal to the warranty on new. My take on it (at least with these appliances) is that there is always the possibility that a new item will fail because it has not been tested. These refurbished items had probably failed originally, but had received repair and additional testing, so they were probably less likely to have problems down the road.

My $1,000 Pfaff Exp 3.0 is my great delight - I'm so happy the previous owner traded up to a 4.0 after having it for only a few months! Take an "expert" with you to look!

Depends on the machine, the price difference & the length of warranty on the new machine.

That said, we had my mom's old Singer refurbished when I took up sewing (she barely sewed 3 things on it before it went in the closet for the next 12 years collecting dust, but there was part of a broken needle caught in bobbin compartment & the timing was off). After the repairman gave it a full work-over, it ran as good as new. When I was shopping for my new machine, I started by looking at refurbished machines, but they just didn't have any that met my requirements so I bought "new" and am not thrilled with it. It came with a NEW sales price, but it was a floor sample. That's all the place sells are floor samples. It seems very suspicious to me & I suspect they probably bought them used & fed me this nonsense line about it being a *benefit* to buy a machine that's already been test driven rather than one in a sealed box. They refused to sell me one in a sealed box, even for a higher price. They claimed they didn't have any more machines in stock except the one that was out, and yet I went back for more thread later that day and sure enough, there was another machine out on the floor.

So I guess the moral of the story is: it's not as important whether it's new or refurbished. What matters is who's selling it to you.

I purchased my Brother PC6500 combo machine as a refurbished machine in 2007. It has been a WONDERFUL machine! It came with a one year store warranty and the regular full Brother Warranty since I bought it from a Brother Dealer. It was a true refurbish, not a used machine that had been traded in and resold by the dealer. If you are buying from a dealer I say go for it. If you are buying at Big Lots you may not be so pleased.