Looking at the 105mm micro

Look at the one graded Excellent at Robert's... Robert's warranty is twice as long as Nikon's Refurb warranty... and it's about $150 less... Lenses are like cars, drive'm off Nikon's lot and they depreciate a lot... with no functional loss of performance...

You're right. I looked a number of different places yesterday and remembered the wrong price on the refurb. I guess I feel somewhat better about the factory refurb because I think of them as ones that have been bought and returned, and not really used much. I know this is not always the case, but I can't imagine someone using a lens a lot and then returning it, although I suppose it could happen.

And, yes, Nikon does offer a short warranty on their refurbs. I bought a telephoto zoom from them last fall when they were running a sale. Lens was perfect, but the warranty was short.

@Clovishound... I wouldn't let Nikon be your guide. I bought a refurb'd 28-300mm from Nikon... Unfortunately, I never tested the VR within the warranty period...until it was out of warranty, and it didn't work... cost me $175 to get Nikon to fix the VR...

OK, I've been looking and (over)thinking on this. I notice that some of these 105 lenses are made in Japan and some are made in China. I assume that the newer ones are Chinese. Should I be looking for a used lens that is made in Japan instead of a likely newer lens (either new, or refurb), that was more likely to have been made in China? Or is there really no difference? One of the used lenses I looked at had a set of photos of that individual lens, and I could clearly see the "made in Japan" on the lens. Another was clearly marked "made in China".

I didn't realize that my Z5 and 28-70 f4 lens were made in Thailand when I bought them a few months ago. Not that it would have stopped me from buying them. I do realize that a good company can maintain good manufacturing in factories regardless of location, if they choose to enforce the proper QC measures.

I don't think there's any significant differences in Nikon's manufacturing processes between countries. The old days of manufacturing being "better" in Japan versus China have been long gone. I'm sure the Japanese would like you to think otherwise...but that isn't the case anymore... Otherwise, Nikon wouldn't have moved their manufacturing around to different countries to capitalize on the different labor costs...

Originally Posted by FredKingston

I don't think there's any significant differences in Nikon's manufacturing processes between countries. The old days of manufacturing being "better" in Japan versus China have been long gone. I'm sure the Japanese would like you to think otherwise...but that isn't the case anymore... Otherwise, Nikon wouldn't have moved their manufacturing around to different countries to capitalize on the different labor costs...

That's pretty much the consensus I've seen in my online searches. I also see that Nikon has dropped the price on this to $600. I believe that is the price I originally saw on their website, and it went up for a while. That brings me back to a used, made in Japan, for $555, or a factory refurb, likely made in China, for $600. I'm leaning toward the refurb. All the new ones I've seen are grey market and $900.