Where's the best place to buy a 5050?

[The Pirate]

I've decided to purchase a 5050. I've seen prices from $799 to as low as $615 with prices all over in between with some of the online sellers. My first question is, are the online sellers, for example, those listed on buy.com and other sites, reputable and are the cameras they sell original mfg eqipment or black market and how does one tell the difference online? The second question I have is where is the best place to purchase the 5050? Thanks.

 

[Dee]

Congrats..you've made a good choice. As to where to buy, I'm not sure what to tell you. There are probably more unscrupulous dealers online that good ones. There are only a couple that I trust, Aldora and B&H...although I'm sure there are other good ones.

That's one reason I bought my cameras locally. I only paid about $40 more than online prices but 1) I was sure it was brand new and in warranty and 2) I had a physical building and a salespersons name to deal with if something went wrong and I needed to return it or will need service. That assurance is worth not finding the rock bottom price. I chose to shop around and save money on the other stuff I needed, ie.....

Housing, strobe, and tray
Charger and batteries

 

[Scubamedicjoe]

I bought mine at best buy you can also buy on line a dell.com and also circit city selling them wont be the cheapest place but all are authorized dealers
my self camera takes excellent land pictures not sure under water yet still waiting on price quote for case strove ect from underwater digital . thanks joe

 

[MonkSeal]

I bought mine at eBay (both camera and housing). The price for camera is between 620$ and 670$ and housing is 250$.

MonkSeal

 

[dlwalke]

I posted nearly the same question a few days earlier. I did a search on pricegrabber.com and have tentatively decided to purchase from The Digital Megastore. pricegrabber provides user ratings and TDM has very high customer satisfaction. I believer there were something like 220 reviews, most all of them 5 stars. Of the negative ones (9 one stars), when I read their specific complaints, it seemed like they were from customers that were just hard to please. TDM say's that everything is brand new, original factory packaging, and comes complete with full manufacturers USA warranty. I have also contacted Olympus by e-mail about on-line retailers and about TDM in particular and am waiting for a response. If I get one, I will be happy to forward it to you. Anyhow, in the absence of any specific negative comments, and with the prospect of saving $200, I am very much inclined to go that route. I would like to think that the savings is due largely to volume and very low overhead - i.e., like having a wharehouse rather than a store and one that is located in the middle of nowhere with minimal property tax etc. But I could be wrong.

Dave

 

[The Pirate]

Thanks for the information.

 

[dlwalke]

I just got my response from Olympus. Basically, they had nothing bad to say. They just suggested I that I contact www.resellerratings.com to see how others have reviewed them. I did but didn't find The Digital Megastore listed in their database. As I said previously, however, there are many reviews on pricegrabber.com which are almost unanimously positive. There are also reviews for a number of other stores.

Dave