New Leica USA promotion - half-price upgrades

[DerekF]

I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere yet, but Leica USA is offering half-price upgrades on all new M8s until the end of June:

http://us.leica-camera.com/news/news/1/6399.html

 

[Ben Z]

It says you have to buy a brand new M8 from an authorized dealer (and it has to be officially imported through Leica USA) to get the upgrade promo. So currently-owned, demos, gray-market or used M8's are not eligible.

 

[DerekF]

Yup, my guess is Leica wanted to make it harder to choose between those 5,000 USD M8.2 demos I've been seeing floating around some dealers lately, or they wanted to signal that there's no price cut coming to the M8.2 (to those who may be waiting for one to pull the trigger) until at least the end of June. Or maybe this was the main reason the upgrade prices were increased in the first place.

 

[Ben Z]

My guess is it's to help move their inventory of M8 "classic"s. Some people might find it more appealing to pay $3995+$1075 for brand-new with 3 total years of warranty than $2500 to $2800+$2150 for a used one and have only 1 year of warranty.

 

[jaapv]

Seems about right, Ben. The rest of the world appears to be about sold out on M8 classics, but there still seems to be some inventory in the USA. An upgraded M8 is a camera I can fully recommend, with the new firmware there is very little reason to go for an M8-2.

 

[cam]

It says you have to buy a brand new M8 from an authorized dealer (and it has to be officially imported through Leica USA) to get the upgrade promo. So currently-owned, demos, gray-market or used M8's are not eligible.

it's a pity.... i just bought my M8 -- used -- from an authorised dealer and would probably jump at the chance to have it all upgraded at 50%. for the full price, though, i just can't justify it -- especially as i'm most interested in the new shutter. sigh.

 

[Ben Z]

An upgraded M8 is a camera I can fully recommend, with the new firmware there is very little reason to go for an M8-2.

Me too. Got mine back (shutter,frames,glass) last week. I was fine with the M8 as it was (no shutter problems, got used to the frames, had one of those super-strong Zagg protectors on the LCD) but it is better now. The frames don't require quite as much imagination in normal-distance shooting, the shutter is definitely less thunky, and the glass, well, that's really not something I care about (never use the LCD except for menus) but it didn't add a whole lot to the cost as a package (I got my upgrade @ the "old" price). The new firmware is a plus, albeit for me a minor one. I'll never use auto-ISO, but I can see there could be a time the discrete/discreet release could come in handy. Oh and the extra year warranty is comforting.

 

[Jim Evidon]

Regarding the half price upgrade promotion by Leica, i received this answer to my question as to whether I am eligible:

"...Good Afternoon,



No, you would not be eligible. This is for cameras purchased after April 1st, 2009.



Thank you



Colleen



Leica Camera Inc. / Customer Service

1 Pearl Court, Unit A / Allendale, NJ 07401 / USA

www.leicacamerausa.com / E-mail Colleen.Murray@LeicaCameraUSA.com

Telephone: (+1) 800-222-0118 x 216 / (+1) 201-995-1684..."