Anyone ever buy a KEH Ugly M Body?

[jmooney]

Hi All,

I'm looking for a beater M and KEH has an ugly one. Anyone ever purchase an Ugly graded body from them? How was it when you got it? I'm guess it'd be in need of a CLA. I'd love to hear of any experiences ya'll have had.

Take care,

Jim

 

[Livesteamer]

I've never bought such a body from KEH but, I once owned the worlds ugliest Nikon F and it worked great. There is an odd logic that it only got that ugly because it worked well and someone used it a bunch. If it has some kind of warranty, go for it. Sometimes I wish I still had that camera. We could have an ugly camera contest. Good Luck. Joe

 

[fbf]

A few months ago I would have said go for it but now, I don't really know what to tell you. Their grading system is going down hill from my recent experience.
Good thing that they still have the excellent return policy. You can give it a try, YMMV.

 

[Rayt]

I bought most of my lenses from KEH and usually in EX or higher because the glass is supposed to be unmarked. I don't care too much about cosmetics but the glass has to be perfect. The last few orders I have received lenses from KEH in EX and in EX+ with obvious cleaning marks and scratches on the glass. I don't know what is going on with them but they have gone down hill. I have gotten stuff that were damaged during shipping due to them stacking stuff on top of one another with insufficiant bubble wrap and packing. Their return policy is the best in the business but when I have to send stuff back from the other side of the world, lose express shipping charges both ways and then further screwed by bad exchange rates any GAS attack goes away really fast.

 

[remphoto]

I always buy key bgn and have been pleased. Sometimes it loks almost new and othertimes worn but serviceablr You might want to call them and have them pull that M and describe it to you.

 

[nikku]

You can definitely call them and get a salesperson to describe the camera to you. I once did that with an UG condition lens. The salesperson frankly told me, "glass looks clear." So I ordered it, and it sure was. I still can't figure out why they graded it UG.
I do think, however that their quality has declined slightly, most likely as a result of getting squeezed by the economy.

 

[umcelinho]

great tip on having the person to pick the actual item and describe, I didn't know it was possible! keh's return policy makes returning pretty easy, you can buy it, if it's too ugly just send it back. the only loss is the shipping cost.

 

[pkreyenhop]

Well it seems to be a kind of lucky dip: I got my M4-P from them in ugly condition. When I opened the parcel, I was surprised to find a very nice looking camera in it. Unfortunately the finder glass was fogged up, the rangefinder very faint and the shutter quite rough. This one was not a winner...
After paying the usual money for a CLA, the shutter was smooth and the finder clean, but the rangefinder patch was still not contrasty. By then I had spent more money, than I would have payed for a good example.

 

[Graham Line]

It's been a while since I looked at the ratings, but seem to remember that UG grade items were not guaranteed to operate properly. Given the couple hundred bucks an overhaul can eat up, a higher grade seems like a better deal.