To buy a used Epic or not?

[Sid Idris]

Colleagues are giving serious thought to purchasing a used Epic package. I was asked whether it would be a sound move and frankly I couldn't give them a very satisfying response. On the one hand EPIC X packages (loyalty packages) are starting to hit the street at somewhat significant price breaks (made even more so attractive against the backdrop of the 2012 increases). However, I've stumbled upon several threads making mention of warranties not being transferrable to used EPIC buyers. Which at the current state of developments seems like a deal breaker. Rick Darges' black shading nightmare is probably the most curious issue and I think lately some owners have had issue with Vmount/redvolt hotswapping. I'm pretty sure in the long run all of the annoyances will be worked out with a fine tuned production line and firmware upgrades...but the used EPIC owner with no warranty...what's he/she to do? What does a technical troubleshooting session cost these days? Would any savings from a used EPIC quickly dissipate when the kinds of issues mentioned above rear their ugly heads? Anyway - in the end my recommendation was to put a deposit down on a new EPIC and wait rather than jumping on a used one without a clear warranty program.

Your thoughts? Did I steer them wrong? Am I overreacting? I need some perspective...

thx

 

[Jack Shanahan]

I was under the impression you could transfer a ownership via Red for $750 and maintain the warranty...not 100% on that tho....

 

[Zeb B]

Your warranty is reduced to 90 days on any resale - even with RED Armor . . . I believe. Would love to see a formal Terms & Conditions section for all things legal like this

That being said - due to older RED users getting a huge discount on Epic-X through the Stage Loyalty program, the current value of a new Epic X system seems to be $30K:
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?70015-RED-EPIC-X-PACKAGE-FOR-SALE

So buying a new Epic-X is for fools only (like me) it seems. I would wait for the next Loyal RED Stage owner to dump their Epic if I was you.

 

[Sid Idris]

90 days seems too close for comfort. Especially with this black shading problem (as seen with Darge). Apparently he RMA'd his brain to get it back with the same problem - and this was after RED replaced some defective part.

 

[jimhare]

In the end it's a gamble. If the worst case scenario is you may have to pay for some repairs that might bring you up to the new price, then it's probably worth it as chances are you will still save money.

My Red One never missed a beat the entire time I owned it. Didn't cost a thing.

So far my Epic is the same. Pretty much bulletproof and any issues I have encountered were fixed by reinstalling the ffirmware.

In the end only you can determine what you're comfortable with, but if there is $10k+ to save, there would have to be some serious to extreme repair bills to pay before you exhausted the savings. For $2,500 in savings I'd definitely say don't bother.

 

[Dave Blackham]

Its fine Red are an hounorable company. They stand behind their products.

 

[Björn Benckert]

There are ways around most things set up a "rental agreement" with the first owner and there is no problem....

 

[George Butterfield]

Did I steer them wrong? Am I overreacting? I need some perspective...

Did you include these questions with your recommendation? There are some real killer deals out there on RED ONE's. Used RED ONE's might be the Indie filmakers dream come true for a lot of people. Get a used RED ONE and shoot a couple of features, then see where the World is at!