HVX200 manufacturing differences?
by Rizzer
on
Jun 29, 2006 at 6:01:04 pm
Hello
When I was shopping for my XL-1 several years ago, I found a few sites that offered it for several hundred dollars less than the very competitve market. After talking to a few companies, I was informed that some of them were made over seas with less quality parts. Does panasonic follow this as method as well? I ask because I found a HVX offered for a really low price brand new online and don't want to get screwed. Thanks
Re: HVX200 manufacturing differences? by Frank Nolan on Jun 29, 2006 at 11:11:29 pm
I don't know if the camera would be built using less quality parts, but I do know that some of the "onlne sellers" are importing cameras from other countries and selling them here in the U.S. Like from Japan for instance. Your manual would be in Japanese and if anything happened to the camera you would have to ship it back to Japan to get it repaired. These are reffered to as grey market products. They also advertise these low prices for the camera, but when you call or order on line, they then tell you the price doesn't include any of the basic accessories that come standard with the camera from an authorized dealer, so they charge extra for those. So in the end you may not save much at all. For peace of mind you are better off buying from an authorized dealer in your country of residence.
Re: HVX200 manufacturing differences? by Arniepix on Jul 1, 2006 at 4:46:28 pm
[Rizzer]"I was informed that some of them were made over seas with less quality parts."
That's a lie. If you had asked to buy one of these 'lesser quality' cameras, they would have refused to sell it to you. They might have said it was out of stock, or something like that. But in reality, they were never in stock in the 1st place, because Cannon didn't make them.
Another popular scam is to 'break' the box- they advertise the camera at a very low price, but when you call, they tell you that it doesn't include such standard accouterments as the battery, charger, lens cap, hood, etc, which they then sell you piecemeal at greatly inflated prices. Instead of saving, you pay more. If you ask to buy the camera alone, without the 'extras', they will refuse to sell it to you.
After all this, they then charge you something like $100 for shipping, which will turn out to be plain old UPS, Fed Ex ground or US Mail that cost them $8-15.
