Is it worth getting a preowned vita?

[DK_Scuba]

I'd vote just buy new unless the price is ridiculously lower. Support Sony and it's horribly selling handheld! lol

[FlamingR1ft]

Just to counter some of the other statistics posted in this topic... I have almost always bought my consoles/handhelds preowned and have never had any problems with any of them. My DS Lite is 6-ish years strong, my PS2 8-ish, my PS3 4-ish, my PSP 4-ish, and my second Wii (after the NEW one died after about 3 years) has lasted 3.

 

In recent years, I've only bought 2 new consoles: 3DS (Paint on the DPad has started peeling) and a Wii (Died after 3 years).

 

So my luck with pre-owned has been FAR better than new. Depending on how retailers work in your country, do what I do and ask to take a look at the console before you buy it; make sure it turns on, basic functions work, in good condition, etc. before you buy it. If it looks like new (a lot do), it's probably as good as new. Plus, EB Games here has a 1 year warranty on their PO consoles; you just bring it back, which is awesome. Way easier than sending a new one off to Sony/Nintendo if it breaks.

[Nelson_]

Its not that easy FlamingR1ft, problems sometimes occur only after a certain time if the device already did hit a wall/ dropped somewhere/

overheat could have occurred and you wont know/ etc, while it could work well atm it might already have a short life

so its more a matter of luck as there is really no way to guess if its in perfect condition or not.

 

My experience says buy new, unless you know the person your getting from and how he takes care of his stuff.

[FlamingR1ft]

Its not that easy FlamingR1ft, problems sometimes occur only after a certain time if the device already did hit a wall/ dropped somewhere/

overheat could have occurred and you wont know/ etc, while it could work well atm it might already have a short life

so its more a matter of luck as there is really no way to guess if its in perfect condition or not.

 

My experience says buy new, unless you know the person your getting from and how he takes care of his stuff.

 

The same "luck"-based issues can be found in new consoles with faulty parts or similar. Associating preowned with "more likely to break" is, in my experience, a myth. Esecially since the Vita is a relatively new system, preowned consoles are less likely to have near-dead battery or other longevity problems.

 

And, like I said, buy it from somewhere with a good warranty. I bought a Vita preowned a month ago. I have 11 more under in-store warranty and if anything will go wrong due to it being preowned, it will happen before that. If it does, I can just take it back a get a new one no questions asked. Obviously, if that sort of warranty isn't available for you, preowned may not be as attractive.

 

I worked gaming retail for half a decade and I dealt with as many people with defective brand new consoles as I did with pre owned. The big advantage of the preowned was that they didn't have to ship it off to Sony and hope that they'd replace it. Depending on where the OP can buy it from, a good reatiler offering a good warranty on preowned is far better than new, imo.

Edited May 21, 2014 by FlamingR1ft

[DrBloodmoney]

Buy new.

Buying second hand is just screwing the people who make the system out of thier deserved cash.

[FlamingR1ft]

Buy new.

Buying second hand is just screwing the people who make the system out of thier deserved cash.

 

This is true. If you're looking to support Sony, then buying preowned gives them nothing.