Warranty for Nikon 5000 ED slide scanner

  • Thread starter Thread starter longbeard
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longbeard

I'm thinking about buying this scanner and was considering the purchase
of a grey market, imported version because it's a lot cheaper. However,
I understand that the warranty won't be honored by Nikon USA and I'd
need to send it to the store where I bought it if I ran into problems.

I was wondering how these scanners (or previous models) are in terms of
reliability. Are they more trouble prone than other electronics? I'm
just trying to figure out if I should bother with the grey market
version. I'd rather spend the extra money if it has a good chance of
needing warranty work.

Also, does anyone know what the warranty is on the authorized USA
Nikons? I never seem to have any luck locating that info on the Nikon
website.
 
longbeard said:
I'm thinking about buying this scanner and was considering the purchase
of a grey market, imported version because it's a lot cheaper. However,
I understand that the warranty won't be honored by Nikon USA and I'd
need to send it to the store where I bought it if I ran into problems.

I was wondering how these scanners (or previous models) are in terms of
reliability. Are they more trouble prone than other electronics? I'm
just trying to figure out if I should bother with the grey market
version. I'd rather spend the extra money if it has a good chance of
needing warranty work.
Click to expand...
The electronics is reliable enough and no more prone to problems than
any other electronic equipment. In fact, the Nikon range of film
scanners have a significant reliability advantage over alternative
manufacturers: the LED light source is orders of magnitude more reliable
than the alternatives. Similarly, the mechanical build seems pretty
robust and I have never experienced a problem with the Nikon scanners.

Like all film scanners though, you will need to clean the internal
optics after a while. How long depends on several things, like how much
it is used and the environment it is used and stored in. I have had my
LS-4000 for exactly 2 years today and it doesn't show any signs of
needing cleaning yet, so it should be well out warranty before yours
need a clean too. Having said that, when not in use it is always dust
covered - even though the scanner has an integral cover itself. I did
have to clean previous Nikon scanner optics myself though. If you don't
feel up to that then you will need to get an optic engineer or a Nikon
service unit to do that for you. Once it is out of warranty though,
Nikon Service *should* handle a grey unit for the same price as an
officially imported one, but its Nikon US, so no bets are being taken on
that one! ;-(
 
The electronics is reliable enough and no more prone to problems than
any other electronic equipment. In fact, the Nikon range of film
scanners have a significant reliability advantage over alternative
manufacturers: the LED light source is orders of magnitude more reliable
than the alternatives. Similarly, the mechanical build seems pretty
robust and I have never experienced a problem with the Nikon scanners.

Like all film scanners though, you will need to clean the internal
optics after a while. How long depends on several things, like how much
it is used and the environment it is used and stored in. I have had my
LS-4000 for exactly 2 years today and it doesn't show any signs of
needing cleaning yet, so it should be well out warranty before yours
need a clean too. Having said that, when not in use it is always dust
covered - even though the scanner has an integral cover itself. I did
have to clean previous Nikon scanner optics myself though. If you don't
feel up to that then you will need to get an optic engineer or a Nikon
service unit to do that for you. Once it is out of warranty though,
Nikon Service *should* handle a grey unit for the same price as an
officially imported one, but its Nikon US, so no bets are being taken on
that one! ;-(
Click to expand...

Thanks for your thoughts Kennedy. Your posts in this newsgroup have been
invaluable in helping me get up to speed on scanning.
 
longbeard said:
Thanks for your thoughts Kennedy. Your posts in this newsgroup have been
invaluable in helping me get up to speed on scanning.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your comments, they are welcome and I am glad to have been of
help as, I am sure, many others have been too. :-)
 
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