# New or Tivo renewed Roamio?



## Torino (Oct 5, 2006)

The on going sale has them 100.00 apart. Should I spend the extra and get the new tivo or save and get the Tivo renewed?


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

My recommendation, save the $100.


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## TazExprez (May 31, 2014)

Chris Gerhard said:


> My recommendation, save the $100.


+1!

I ordered two and one looks barely used, while the other one looks brand new. From about two feet, or so, they both look brand new. If you ever have problems with a new one, they will send you a refurbished replacement.


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

Bought a new Roamio Basic late last year.

It failed, completely, after 96 days.
Cost $50 for a replacement; now I have a "referb."
Not happy but it's working at the time.

So yeah, save the $$$ and get the referb.


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## Chuck_IV (Jan 1, 2002)

With the Refurb I got, I swear they just pulled a new one out of the fancy box and repackaged it in a generic brown box. It looks brand new with no scratches or even a fingerprint on it.

Go with the refurb.


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## jlac839 (Nov 7, 2004)

+1

Just got my refurb last week. Looked to me like a returned unit (some minor scuffing). Switched the HDD to a 3TB WD AV, connected, and powered up. Came up fine and is working so far.

I have had good luck with refurb units so I'd say save the $100. A quick scan around the net will reveal the pros and cons 'coz like anything your mileage may vary.


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## 241705 (Mar 9, 2010)

The refurb'd Roamio I received last week looks brand new and works perfectly. My last refurb was a TiVo HD, still going strong six years later (well, actually now it is off and in the box - deciding whether to sell it).


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## consumedsoul (Jan 13, 2013)

bought refurb as well w/ the $250 lifetime deal recently, works just fine.


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## DocNo (Oct 10, 2001)

The irony is for most manufacturers referbs have more attention paid to them than "new". For most reputable companies I love referb machines. The only times I am wary are if there are batteries involved. I ordered a refurbed Roomba from Amazon and the battery was crap and they wouldn't do anything about it so watch the exclusions


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

Buying a refurb TiVo is probably not too risky; if one happens to be bad you usually find out about it within the warranty period. I would not counsel anyone against that purchase.

However, I've had some bad experiences with refurbs. Notably computer monitors where the defects might not be immediately apparent. For example, years ago I bought a NEC 25" CRT for about 1/3 the price of a new one, which turned out to have a hole in the screen that only appeared intermittently. Eventually it started to grow until soon the screen was gone. That bottle only lasted about a year, so my "bargain" was actually a bum steer. Similar experiences have led me to personally avoid buying other people's problems as a general rule.

On the gripping hand, I once bought a couple of discontinued Logitech Harmony remotes to replace ones I had that died in service. Because they had been in storage so long, even though they were actually new, the material in the keys had deteriorated resulting in near-dead keys in both of them. When I got fed up with having to push multiple times to change to channel 6, I bought refurbs of the same remotes on the theory that a refurb probably would get some kind of quality check; the refurbished remotes had no dead keys and worked just fine. So in this case, the refurb was far better than the "new".


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

I would guess many TiVo refurbs are new boxes returned during the 30 day return period that aren't in fact defective. The return can result from either user or cable co ineptitude or just that the user decides they don't like the TiVo experience (hard to imagine, I know) or they want a different TiVo model.

Hopefully TiVo tests them before selling as a refurb, at least if the user has complained of a particular defect.


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## rf52 (Nov 23, 2007)

Well, I went for the refurb unit with lifetime. Received the Roamio, ran guided setup, and left it overnight planning on pairing the cable cards the next day.

When I turned the TV on the next day, the picture had vertical stripes all across the screen. After working with Tivo support for a couple of hours to prove it was in the Roamio and not my HDMI cable or TV, they finally agreed to replace the Tivo. I suspect that the unit was returned for the same issue, but by the time it got back to Tivo, tested ok.

Kind of soured me on the whole "refurbs are tested better than new" theory I used to believe. 

Tivo told me they were doing a cross-exchange, meaning they were shipping me a new unit the same time I am returning the defective one, but the paperwork states they will send me another unit 7-10 days after receiving the bad one.


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## jonw747 (Aug 2, 2015)

It's a roll of the dice. The worst case scenario is that the unit was returned because there was something wrong with it, but because it was an intermittent condition, TiVo couldn't find or fix it.


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## Teddyboy (Nov 26, 2014)

It's really tempting to get a refurb for $300 which includes lifetime. My trigger finger is really itchy.


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## benhvic (Jun 21, 2004)

I bought the refurbished Roamio last week with lifetime service for $300. I opted for the 3 year optional warranty for $39 as insurance. I believe I received a new one, even though it was in a brown box, it still had all the protective plastic, I examined it in good light and there were no signs it had ever been used, no scratches, smudges, etc.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Teddyboy said:


> It's really tempting to get a refurb for $300 which includes lifetime. My trigger finger is really itchy.


I know the feeling. One way to think of it--freely returnable, with TiVo even picking up the return shipping, if you decide it was a poor choice impulse buy . . . .


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## TazExprez (May 31, 2014)

rf52 said:


> Well, I went for the refurb unit with lifetime. Received the Roamio, ran guided setup, and left it overnight planning on pairing the cable cards the next day.
> 
> When I turned the TV on the next day, the picture had vertical stripes all across the screen. After working with Tivo support for a couple of hours to prove it was in the Roamio and not my HDMI cable or TV, they finally agreed to replace the Tivo. I suspect that the unit was returned for the same issue, but by the time it got back to Tivo, tested ok.
> 
> ...


I bought two Roamio Basic units and they are working great! I would just order another one and send the first one back, since this would be faster for you.


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## JoeTaxpayer (Dec 23, 2008)

I'm looking at this current deal. No 6 tuner, right? 
A 6 + mini would let me save a Comcast outlet fee and card.


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