New R2 or Demo? Repair rate??

[Huck Finn]

I have an opportunity to get a used Bessa R2 for $400. Use was only as a demo - never left the shop. The dealer will give a 30-day warranty. A new one will have a one-year warranty.

Does anyone know the frequency of repairs for an R2 in its first year? Thanks for the help.

 

[rover]

A new R2 will run you $465 from Cameraquest.com, so $400 may not be that bad of a deal. Will the shop clean it up, make sure the rangefinder is properly aligned and all the functions are up to specs?

 

[Huck Finn]

Since its never actually been used as a shooter, they seem to assume that everything is in proper working order. It's only been used for people to fondle at the counter, click the shutter, etc. It's at Photo Village, which sells a lot of Bess cameras, but I assume that most of their business is mail order. The shop is not on the street, rather it's on the 8th floor of a Manhattan office building, so you have to seek them out, no street walk-in traffic. It's a quiet shop & people would have looked at it under controlled conditions.

I had read a lot of complaints about breakdowns on the Bessa R, but I have not seen anything like that regarding the R2. Have any of you heard anything different?

 

[Kris]

I haven't heard any complaint regarding R2 either. I have one, 2nd hand, and it is a pretty solid camera. I dropped it once from about 1 ft high onto concrete but until now it functions flawlessly (knock on wood). The paint is easily scrapped off though. Expect to start seeing the metal after 5-10 days of use.

Kris

 

[back alley]

for 65 bucks i would get a new one with a complete warranty.
i worked at a camera store part time (years ago) and we gave full warranty with demos. maybe try and negotiate with them.

joe

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Is Rich Pinto in the store? He's a very nice, agreeable individual. Talk to him and tell him about a nice, full warranty.

If not, as Joe said, for $65 more you can get one from Stephen Gandy.

 

[rover]

I noticed yesterday that Photo Village, and Camera Quest for that matter, have just been named official US Cosina Voigtlander distributors. These two shops are the only two that have had a consistent stock of CV equipment over the last year due to their relationships with the owner of Cosina. I noticed too that they are offering now an official factory warranty on CV products. That being said, I would trust they are selling a good product and will stand behind it. It sounds like you have the opportunity to handle it and check it out with your own eyes. If it doesn't seem ok, just have that extra $65 in your pocket. From watching ebay prices I don't think you will do any better on a used/demo R2, and if bought on ebay you have no warranty.

 

[Doug]

I enjoy visiting CameraQuest website, but bought my CV gear on several occasions from B&H. I have considered Photo Village too, I bought once from CQ in what seemed an unnecessarily awkward transaction involving emails and PayPal. They do not accept a phone order or payment by credit card. Maybe that will change, and then I'd be happy to deal with them again.

 

[pvdhaar]

Similar dilemma,

I recently went to buy a new telly (tv set that is), but the model of my choice was not available anymore, except for the demo model that was happily displaying clips from MTV.

I thougth: it's in working order, which is not always the case for something new out of the box, so I'll give it a try, but I'll have the warranty as well.

Boy, was I glad I had a warranty, because the remote control receiver board proved to be badly connected after about 8 weeks.

Lessons learned:
1. a working demo model is a working demo model and no more than that.
2. stuff may go bad after a 4 week period

 

[taffer]

I don't remember buying any demo thing that didn't come with the normal manufacturer's warranty so you may ask them about it.

OTH, that $65 for 11 months extra warranty is something like 5.9 $ per month, and if something goes wrong after that month then you'll have some headaches...

Only my 0.02...

Oscar

 

[Huck Finn]

Taffer -

As Rover mentioned above, Cosina did not offer a manufacturer's warranty on their Voigtlander products until very recently - sometime within the past month. In that regard, buying one of their products was like buying grey market - store warranty only. Photo Village only gave a 60 or 90 day warranty even on brand new products, so 30 days isn't a big drop-off for them. B&H, on the other hand has given a one-year store warranty on Cosina products, but their prices on the Cosina line are higher. So there is no manufacturer's warranty on the demo because it pre-dates the existence of the manufacturer's warranty. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

 

[taffer]

Sorry Huck, I missed that, hmmm... Here in Spain prices for CV stuff are WAY high, please, read this example, 'cos it's impressive:

- Bessa R chrome: 735 EUR
- Bessa R black: 610 EUR
- Bessa R2 black: 695 EUR
- Bessa L: 270 EUR

Totallly out of place, even if they come with a one-year warranty...

Anyway, whatever you decide, lots of luck with your new R2, and don't forget to let us know how you like it !!! 🙂

Oscar

 

[Doug]

Y'know, I suppose with an official US importer, Voigtlander prices might have to rise... warranties and advertising both increase costs, and an additional layer in the distribution chain. So far, those who sold the gear imported it directly, right?

But I'd hate to see prices go up to what Oscar suffers!

 

[Huck Finn]

Oscar -

Wow!! Those prices are high. Here in USA, these are the prices:

Bessa R black or chrome: $330
Bessa R2: $500 (can be found for $469)
Bessa L: $120

The isue of international pricing is interesting. Right now I'm trying to decide between a Rollei 35 RF with a Zeiss 40/2.8 lens or a Bessa R2 with a Leica 50 Sumicron. The Sumicron is the better lens but I like the angle of view better with the 40 & the finish is better on the Rollei body. I don't like the idea of black Cosina paint rubbing off on my hands.

The Rollei 35 RF is just a dressed up Bessa R2 but it sells here for $1250 - 2.5 times the cost of the R2 here - & the lens for $1000. I can get the Rollei camera & lens in a kit for $1600, resulting in a substantial savings but still more than the R2/Leica combination. I've been told that the Rollei kit sells for $1200 USD in Hong Kong, but I can't find a Hong Kong dealer on line to buy from. How can all of these prices be so different from Europe to America to Asia?!

It's really crazy, isn't it? Here in America we pay much higher prices for drugs than you do - & our government makes it illegal for us to import them from elsewhere. About 10 years ago I read that the same medicine I might buy here was only 1/3 the cost in Mexico & 2/3 the cost in Germany! And yet gas is cheaper here - although prices are increasing. It's a crazy, mixed up world.

PS - I think you have explained why the Rollei prices seem so high here. It's only in comparison to the America Bessa prices, but Rollei is right in line with the Bessa European prices.

 

[Huck Finn]

Y'know, I suppose with an official US importer, Voigtlander prices might have to rise... warranties and advertising both increase costs, and an additional layer in the distribution chain. So far, those who sold the gear imported it directly, right?

But I'd hate to see prices go up to what Oscar suffers!

Doug, it will be interesting to see what happens in this regard. When I started looking at the Rollei, I fel all along that you had to view the comparison with Voigtlander as you would with a grey market version of the same product, so I expected the Rollei price to be higher - expecially since it comes with a 2-year manufacturer's warranty & the best that you could get on Voigtlander products was a 1-year store warranty. And I know that those who repaired Voigtlanders had trouble getting parts from cosina. As of Friday, there was no announcement of a price increase.

The roll that Photo Village & Cameraquest will play as distributors remains to be seen. Caneraquest is a one man operation. Photo Village has 3 or 4 people working there. I wouldn't expect either of them to be playing the roll that Nikon-Usa plays. 🙄 I know that's not a fair comparison. And Rollei-USA is also a fairly small operation, but middle man work is all they do, while the new Voigtlander distributors are doing a bunch of other retail things. I expect that the will want some compensation for their services, but who knows if they will last. Cosina has already gone through several others USA distributors who haven't worked out.

The good news for the owners of the Voigtlander line of products is that there will now be designated domestic repair centers with a supply of parts. good news indeed.😎 Interestingly the East Coast repair center is in the New York area & is the came facility that Rollei is using for their warranty service & repairs.

 

[taffer]

It's a crazy, mixed up world

without doubt ! 🙂

one good thing about the new connected world is that you can easily order that stuff from overseas. I don't know if Spanish stores sell a lot of CV stuff, but for that prices I doubt it...

It's amazing to see that 735 EUR for the chrome Bessa-R and a nice M2 for 800 at the same store...

Oscar