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Don't buy refurbished unless it's a scarce item.
Or if you are buying a bunch and will have spares -- like if you need to set up a call center on the cheap.
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Refurbished equipment is hit or miss. Be careful, check the warranty and return policy, the dealers rep (if possible) and stress it before warranty runs out.
I bought an D850, refurbished by Nikon and it's been great.
I bought a 2.2KW Huanyang CNC spindle, refurbished by them (supposedly one of the best) from Huanyang through Amazon and it didn't work. Got my money back from Amazon without any hassle.
The less you need, the more you have.
Even a blind squirrel gets a nut...occasionally.
JaxCoder.com
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For a monitor, I wouldn't bother.
Maybe it was returned for a problem that only occurs intermittently (for example, it might start to flicker when running hot), and the repair shop didn't find anything wrong with it 'cuz a repair shop never gets to spend hours using it.
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ecologically: yes maybe
economically: no
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I made the mistake of buying an "open box" monitor and I soon regretted it. The image was slightly blurred, and it was then that I realized that it had been returned for a reason.
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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it's not the same as a refurbished product.
CI/CD = Continuous Impediment/Continuous Despair
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Many "refurbished" products are actually returns, that they don't do anything to, and turn around and sell it as refurbished. Sometimes, they "fix" it, but most times they don't as it is not cost effective to spend more money on fixing it then it is worth in the first place.
I never buy refurbished anything, ever. Good luck to those that do.
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We have had very good luck with refurbished stuff from Dell, but the savings on monitors can be pretty small. Probably have to catch them when they have a huge surplus (not so much these days). They usually have 15 day return policy and full warranty policy.
I do better on ebay but that can be a crap shoot.
>64
Some days the dragon wins. Suck it up.
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Thank you each and every one
While the final verdict will take two years (that's the warranty period) to deliver, for the moment it looks like the pessimists win this one.
I could have driven over to any of five different stores in town and picked up a new one for about the same amount of money I spent on gasoline in search of a cable (and currently adapter).
In fact, I probably would have spent less money.
So, this fool and his money have been separated; although I guess I do have a nifty looking monitor; so I don't feel totally stupid; maybe fifty percent.
Quite a learning experience here. I'm guessing five or ten hours; about the same amount of money; and I could have achieved an even better experience and end result from only spending an extra forty-five minutes making a single side trip on the way home from work.
Score 1 for local brick and mortar -vs- The Internet
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Shh! Caesar's tongue hesitates for shiny metal (8)
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Platinum ?
"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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I knew it was easy! 
YAUM 
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Even given the answer, it took me a while to work out how it was derived. So, well done!
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As long as the setter sticks to convention they are not that difficult to solve, you just need to know how to pull the clue apart into small pieces. Come and join us ! BTW they are much harder to set than solve !
"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Only problem is the CP'ers east of the big pond get the puzzles solved before the new world gets out of bed!
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Yes the time zones are a difficult pancake.
"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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I can certainly attest to the fact that they are harder to set than solve, but solving still isn't a cakewalk for me. I get one maybe two a week, but not often as fast as some of you guys. The time difference for me just means I can't play in real time, but I still try to work them out each day. I did get today's but needed Randor's explanation to learn how "shh!" becomes "P". And so I learned something new.
I was able to play in real time last March because my wife and I went to Hawai'i for a vacation. Which meant the CCC changed from starting at 3am my time to 10pm - much more doable once I was on Hawai'i time. Ironically, the clue I solved to win was set by Greg Utas from Canada who set it late (1:30am HA time). But, I got up at 2 to take care of some old man business and due to an unfamiliar bedroom layout I woke up more fully than usual. So, I decided to check on the day's CCC. And, much to my surprise (and subsequent terror) won!
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Too late to ask for the solution?
I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.
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Shh! Caesar's tongue hesitates for shiny metal
Shh! = P
Caesar's tongue = Latin
hesitates = Um
P[^]
Um[^]
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Yeah, my brain just doesn't work that way. I enjoy reading the CCC every day though.
I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.
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MarkTJohnson wrote: Yeah, my brain just doesn't work that way.
I honestly don't know why some people can't solve them. I guess people are just wired differently.
This is an interesting paper[^] about it.
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I truly believe that people are wired differently. I had a friend in high school who was in many of the same math and science classes as I and was fairly proficient in them as well. We both took an intro to programming course (which set my career path, but not his). He apparently solved problems in a more holistic manner than I did and was nearly incapable of breaking a problem down into smaller and smaller subtasks and steps that could eventually be expressed as code. Give him a list of integers and ask for the average - no problem. But input the list into an array, iterate the array for a sum, divide by the count and output the result? No way. It mystified me as to why it was so difficult for him. Recursion would have driven him right around the bend.
BTW, that paper was indeed interesting. It mentioned a correlation between good solvers and higher education. I suspect the correlation is really more about being more widely read - meaning greater exposure to ideas through reading. I suspect my father, who never finished high school, would have been pretty good at cryptics just because he was such an avid reader on all kinds of topics and had a fairly logical mind.
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