I have bought “refurbished gear” off and on for decades. Never high end audio gear, usually photography, HT, astronomy… stuff that matters less to me. Most of the time it appears new… perhaps some way of discounting and getting around manufacturers rules. But every once in a while I got a stinker… banged up or didn’t work… then the fight was on to get my money back. That one out of 5 or 10 was a pain in the butt. So, if it important to me… and the money is enough that I can’t just write it off. I buy new.
