Now That I Love My Graphite...The Warranty

[M_Agnum]

So, now that I know for sure I LOVE the DX Graphite and am keeping it, the question of warranty comes up. I know I need a warranty with the way I use it, so I was wondering if people had any opinions between the Amazon 2 year and the Square Trade 3 year warranty.

From what I can tell, they both offer one time drop and spill coverage as well as warranting from defects. However, the Square Trade seems like the better option because it is a) cheaper, b) lasts longer and c) may refund the purchase price, which is great if a new product is out by the time it breaks.

Square Trade seems like the obvious choice, but first-hand accounts of the service would be nice if anyone has any to share.

[drofgnal]

You didn't say how much they were, but I've generally been an advocate of not buying extended warranties. They generally aren't worth it, although like insurance sometimes it pays. Its a matter of probabilities, literally.

Generally if a device is going to fail, it will early in its life, which is called infant mortality. Failures attributed to infant mortality are generally due to manufacturing defects. As time goes on and infant mortality fades away the failure rate of devices drops quite a bit (called the knee in the curve). Typically the standard one year warranty is sufficient to screen out infant mortality. Over time the failure rate picks back up again as a device nears its uselful life. Most extended warranty offers know this and extended warranties are designed to fit in the sweet spot of low failure rates.

Now if they are offering spill protection and basically insurance for misuse of a device, that might be worth it to you depending upon how careful you are with things of this nature. I try to be careful and I never buy them.

[M_Agnum]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

You didn't say how much they were, but I've generally been an advocate of not buying extended warranties. They generally aren't worth it, although like insurance sometimes it pays. Its a matter of probabilities, literally.

Generally if a device is going to fail, it will early in its life, which is called infant mortality. Failures attributed to infant mortality are generally due to manufacturing defects. As time goes on and infant mortality fades away the failure rate of devices drops quite a bit (called the knee in the curve). Typically the standard one year warranty is sufficient to screen out infant mortality. Over time the failure rate picks back up again as a device nears its uselful life. Most extended warranty offers know this and extended warranties are designed to fit in the sweet spot of low failure rates.

Now if they are offering spill protection and basically insurance for misuse of a device, that might be worth it to you depending upon how careful you are with things of this nature. I try to be careful and I never buy them.

If the warranties were only for defects, I would not be considering them at all. However, the one time insurance against drop and spill makes it pretty tempting, especially with the way I use my DX.

The Amazon extended warranty is 2 years for $105 while the Squaretrade is 3 years for $85. It seems there is a logical winner, but I just wanted to make sure.

[PaulGuy]

I bought the square trade 3 year on July 13th for my GDX for $59.50. They were having a "sale", 20% off. They frequently have these promotions. Buy at that time and you can't beat the deal.