Originally posted by GoldenWreckedAngle Wow, that PhotoME is comprehensive! Thanks.
I bought a "refurbished" K10D that didn't look like it had ever been out of the box. The seller claimed that it was a demo model that had to be labeled as re-furbished since it couldn't be sold as new but I've always wondered. ME confirmed that the camera has never been serviced and the difference between the number of clicks I've taken and the number of shutter releases on the camera is only 351. For all I know they took that many test shots at the factory. WooHoo!
I have seen a couple of threads regarding the shutter count on brand new Pentax dslrs. It does appear that, during QA, the factory activates the shutter a couple of hundred times. I know that mine did, and it came straight from B & H.
Personally, I think that labelling a demo unit as "refurbished" is, in some ways, just as misleading as saying it is new. To me, refurbished means that the factory or other qualified service agent has checked it out and replaced/repaired/adjusted/cleaned everything that needed it. If this has not been done, then it is not refurbished. Why can't they just call it what it is, a DEMO unit? Any reasonable buyer would know what that means; the camera has been out of the box in the store and handled by any number of sales persons and potential customers.