$150 for the 8700 and $35 a month for personal data plan is something I can afford.

Anyone have any experience with the quality of a refurbed 8700?

Not directly, but my first BB was a refurb'd 7290 from Cingular, and there was absolutely no way anyone could have told it from a new one when I got it. Its still sitting around as the "backup" here in case the 8700c I bought used on eBay ever fails. I'd say go for it.

You can't go wrong, they usually go back to RIM to be cleaned and have a new housing put on. They also come with the standard one yr. RIM warranty as well.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102 UP.Link/6.3.0.0.0)

Was not aware they sold refurbs. Nice to know.

Mine is a 8700c refurb and there is nothing wrong with it for me. Signal is strong, bluetooth works great, SMS with BB Messenger works great, no problems with the trackwheel, in fact...no problems at all...

The Cingular site says they come with a 90 day warranty. I have considered a refurb, but I've returned too many devices to consider one with a 90 day warranty.

I bought a refurb 8700c from Cingular Premier a month ago. It looked brand new when I got it and I haven't had any problems with it. My only concern was the battery bein used and wouldn't hold a charge, but it has been fine. And at $150, I could buy a new battery and still come out way ahead of a new one.

i bought an 8700c from cingular refurb for $150.
as soon as i put my chip in and made a call all i could hear were ringing noises. i called up cingular and they said i can take it back to a cingular store for an exchange.
they gave me a brand new one, not a refurb in exchange.

Usually batteries are on the replacement list. They either failed to replace it or you got a bad battery out of the box. Happens.

I went through 4 7290s before I got the 8700c. The first 7290 was brand new but had a sticky "M" key. The 2nd through 4th were refurbs. #2 worked fine until it decided to stop finding a signal for 10 - 30 minutes at a time. #3 was a piece of junk which booted up with a blank screen with only "ERROR 411" across it. #4 worked ok after spending an hour and a half with tech support.

My first 8700c (new) worked fine out of the box. So, I guess you can have problems with any device but is the lack of warranty worth the savings in cost?

Exactly why I have been hesitant to do a refurb. Thanks for convincing me that I made the right decision!

Yes, I got my $149.99 8700c refurb 2 months ago, and not a single problem. Like the other guy said, the only way you would know it was a refurb was it had a plain white box. The battery was brand new and the unit appeared brand new. It is a great way to save 150.

Well, of course, if you look at all the answers here, I don't think anyone who's posted got stuck with a bad refurb because the warranty expired - most everyone who has posted got a unit that looked and worked like brand new, two people had units with problems, one of which was exchanged instantly for a NEW one, and the other person did go through a couple with problems, but ended up with a good one too - so its not really as dire as you make it sound, now is it?

mine was a refurb, still works fine

I guess it depends on your perspective. Only two of the people who have posted here told us how long they have had their refurb. Those two people have had theirs for one to two months. I'm not sure if Cingular has been selling refurbs for much longer than that.

I have had four Blackberrys over the past few years. Of the four, the first two were replaced during the last half of the warranty because of loose wheeles. I turned the third one in before the warranty expired because I changed jobs. The fourth was replaced about nine months into the warranty because it wouldn't stop rebooting. In that case I spent hours on the phone with Cingular and RIM. Both had me do javaloader wipes and OS reloads. RIM finally made the call to replace it.

I would be interested in hearing from the folks who bought refurbs in about nine months to a year to see how the devices are holding up. I hope they hold up well. But, based on my experience and the few stories from others such as egale, I think I'm going to go for a one year warranty.

A unit can be deemed a refurb if it is turned in by the original buyer and that person just didn't want it anymore. They send it to the manufacturer, they check it, put it a refurb tag on it and send it back.
Refurb does not always mean repaired...sometimes it is refurbed because it is just a turned in unit.
Having said that, any unit (new or refurb/used) can go bad straight off the production line, there are no guarantees either way.
I have had brand new Nokia phones crap out and a used treo that was pretty solid.

I agree. That's why I like having a warranty. But, I also understand that there are those who are willing to take more risk than me. For those folks refurbs are a great option. I guess I use the warranty as insurance that the device will last until Cingular deems me worthy for another discounted device.

While I'm at it, I didn't mean to disparage Blackberry devices in my last post. I have used Nokia, Motorola, Palm, Sony/Ericsson, and even Casio for a while. They all have their good points and bad. But, of all of the different PDAs and phones that I have used the Blackberry is my favorite. I think it is a hardware platform that has matured well and is perfectly suited for the abuse that I tend to throw at it. ...as long as it has a one year warranty.

And of the three new ones you had to have replaced, how long and how well did the replacements hold up? Because the replacements were almost certainly refurbs.

The replacements have held up very well, and I would have to say longer than the new ones. I've thought about the possibility that refurbs may actually be better than the original, but I'm not sure if I believe it.

The refurb Blackberrys are most likely a very good option. But, there is at least some risk that the there will be problems after the warranty has expired and before Cingular will allow a discounted replacement. The risk may not be great, but it is there. If you're willing to accept that risk I say go for the refurb. I am simply making the decision to give it a while to see if the refurbs really do hold up.

Tell me how yours is doing after a year and I may change my mind.

When you make a call, the speaker makes ringing noises.... duh it's a phone!

i purchased refurbished from cingular, perfect phone no problems so far. looks brand new.

I also have a refurb 8700c and it works great. It's been 3+ months now, no problems.

yah its been over 4 months for me now