Originally posted by Hound Tooth I can't see any flaw in that reasoning. It's perfectly sound and reasonable. You are a master debater. You have convinced me that black is white, the sky is green, and mosquitoes are only trying to show us their appreciation by kissing us. Congratulations.
"People who don't know any better are still willing to pay $100 less than retail price for this lens, therefore it is flawless."
Truly priceless...
Or most people realize the chance of SDM failure during the first year is actually (far) less than 50%. Given that, a $100 spread on a $200 potential repair isn't really a terrible option, statistically speaking. Plus, in reality, the spread on a used vs new DA* lens is closer to $150-200 depending on the model. At that spread I would be much more nervous buying new. At least if I buy used and save $200, I could (in theory) set that money aside for the "inevitable repair" down the road. If you buy new and it fails on day 366, you're out of luck altogether.
FWIW, I bought the 4 SDM lenses I own used for a total of over $1000 less than the total price they would have cost new. So unless I get 4-5 SDM failures while I own the lenses, I'm going to try not to worry too much about the possibility of an SDM failure.
Again, I'm not saying there isn't a QC issue and I do feel Pentax really dropped the ball by not addressing the issue more directly from the start. A longer warranty period and acknowledgement of the issue would be great; I just don't see either of those things happening any time soon.