Refurb Tour a good move?

[matt1618]

Hello, I'm new to Crackberry from Precentral. I'm a webOS fan and I'm on Sprint but I could never in good conscience get a Pre Minus when other carriers had the new model. I'm looking forward to the Pre 3 which rumors say will come to Sprint in June. Until then, I desperately need a new phone but don't want to lose my upgrade. I've decided to go with a refurbished Blackberry Tour, off contract. Do you guys think this is a good move? CNET gave it a good review but I wanted to know what you all think.

[lnichols]

Well if you switch your going to have to pay an additional $10 more per month with Sprint, but your going to have to do this if you switch to any smartphone on Sprint. Tour's aren't great, I've been using them since they came out. Returned one under warranty for a trackball and the mic sucked, then the second new one the headphone jack wouldn't take an input because of a defect but the mic worked great, then they sent me a refurb and it worked but the had crap mic, then I lost it and got an asurion refurb and still has a poor mic. Tour's just aren't great phones IMHO.

[danisnotstan]

Originally Posted by matt1618

Hello, I'm new to Crackberry from Precentral. I'm a webOS fan and I'm on Sprint but I could never in good conscience get a Pre Minus when other carriers had the new model. I'm looking forward to the Pre 3 which rumors say will come to Sprint in June. Until then, I desperately need a new phone but don't want to lose my upgrade. I've decided to go with a refurbished Blackberry Tour, off contract. Do you guys think this is a good move? CNET gave it a good review but I wanted to know what you all think.

I had a Pre and got tired of waiting for a better WebOs phone also. I actually have several phones and used to switch often, but I keep finding myself back with BlackBerry. I just got the Style (love it) but had a Tour for a few months before. I think the Tour is hit or miss. I hear a lot of complaints about the Tour, yet my Tour was a great phone and never experienced any issues at all. In the beginning a lot of Tours were returned because of the trackball... This is an obviously easy fix, but if I was under warranty, I would expect a new phone (thus why there are so many "refurbs". $80 without using an upgrade is a bargain and worth the chance. They do give a (short) warranty even for refurbished phones. I say go for it.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[chunligirl]

i personally dont have much luck with a Tour.. i got my Tour through TEP from my 8830WE... im on my 5th Tour and it hasnt been a full year yet (will be at the end of May)

my mic has issues.. my trackball has issues... a lot of lot of freezing and rebooting.. the only reason why i cant upgrade to a Bold is because i'm on a F&C plan.. if you're on an everything data plan.. i suggest getting something besides a Tour.. thats just my opinion

[papped]

I wouldn't get the Tour... That's just me though. Not a reliable BB at all. Almost any other released BB I would recommend over it (8530, 9650, style).

[matt1618]

I have already gotten the Tour, based on the positive official reviews. And the CNET user reviews were, on average, higher than their official one. Plus, the no contract/refurb options on Sprint are pretty limited. You don't get any instant savings or web savings when you go that route. So I had the following to choose from: LG Lotus Refurb, Samsung Rant Refurb, Samsung Reclaim Refurb, Samsung Instinct s30 Refurb, and the Blackberry Tour Refurb. The latter looked like the best of those offered.

[eBoyDog]

As long as you aren't under a contract you should be ok, what's the warrenty policy on re-furbs?

I can't recommend the 9630 Tours to anyone, I went though 2 myself and replaced my wife's 3 times all within the first year, compared to my old 8330 that up to couple months ago was accidentally crushed, it had been running with no issue for 5 years.

9650 Bold which is the same basic device but they added memory, WiFi and a touchpad which was RIM's apology for the crappy 9630's.

[matt1618]

Yeah, no contract. Yikes, sounds like you guys have had some crappy Tours. I would have went with the LG Lotus but it wasn't clear if I would receive the purple one or the black one - it didn't look exactly manly either...

[computertekguy]

Originally Posted by eBoyDog

I can't recommend the 9630 Tours to anyone, I went though 2 myself and replaced my wife's 3 times all within the first year, compared to my old 8330 that up to couple months ago was accidentally crushed, it had been running with no issue for 5 years.

Ok this drives me nuts, and THESE PEOPLE drive me nuts


"Oh I had this phone for 8 years and it's the best phone ever."

"I've had sprint service for 15 years and never had problems"

And you have to say you had your curve for 5 years, THEY HAVENT BEEN AROUND FOR 5 YEARS.

People man, I swear....

[matt1618]

OP here. I've had my Tour now for a couple days and all is well so far. My first impressions, as someone new to BlackBerry OS and smartphones in general, is that it is hard to find what you're looking for among the list of apps and menus. And I'm having a terrible time pairing the phone with my laptop via Bluetooth. But, as I learn more about the phone and the OS I'm sure it will become more and more useful.

[danisnotstan]

Originally Posted by matt1618

OP here. I've had my Tour now for a couple days and all is well so far. My first impressions, as someone new to BlackBerry OS and smartphones in general, is that it is hard to find what you're looking for among the list of apps and menus. And I'm having a terrible time pairing the phone with my laptop via Bluetooth. But, as I learn more about the phone and the OS I'm sure it will become more and more useful.

Believe it or not, BlackBerry is one of the easiest OS's to learn. The BlackBerry Menu key is your friend... You're right when you say it'll become more useful with time... soon enough it will become second nature and you wont have any issues finding any options. One thing that is much improved with OS6 is Universal Search. Instead of searching through menus, all you have to do is type... for example, type "GPS" and it brings you to the location services menu, instead of having to click through several other screens. Very useful. Unfortunately, the Tour isn't upgradeable to OS6, but if you end up liking the Tour, the Bold is very similar for a future upgrade. Good luck and enjoy your new phone.

[eBoyDog]

Originally Posted by computertekguy

Ok this drives me nuts, and THESE PEOPLE drive me nuts


"Oh I had this phone for 8 years and it's the best phone ever."

"I've had sprint service for 15 years and never had problems"

And you have to say you had your curve for 5 years, THEY HAVENT BEEN AROUND FOR 5 YEARS.

People man, I swear....

Yes, you are correct, Sprint 8330's have not been available to the general public for the last 5 years. I believed they showed up in retail mid 2008, Verizon released it first and then Sprint but I'm not sure on that detail.

HOWEVER

The Blackberry 8330 Curve that I describe was part of a group device offered to me as as pre-production evaulation of both use and durablity prior to public retail release. I can assure you that the 8330 I have, is coming up on it's 5th birthday in a few months and other than a couple replaced trackballs it's worked just fine all these years up to time it was accidently crushed.

Drive you nuts as much as it may, older Blackberrys were built better than the new ones. matt1618 asked in a public forum what others thought and I and others offered such: A lot of people have not had reliable 9630's.

[BergerKing]

I have a Tour as my standby device, no major problems on it, but when it comes to refurbs, they don't have a good history, and that is a sad fact of life. I know of 2 that bought 'furbs outright and have already replaced both. Frankly, with the Tour, it's a crapshoot.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[papped]

My brand new Tour's trackball lasted 2 weeks... Buyer beware.