jmden
Well-Known Member
Hi,
I've been trying to figure out which rangefinder to get for some time. Everyone here and eslewhere has had two "words" for me: Leica 1200. But $500? Ouch!
Now, I'm not taking any responsibility for what might happen to anybody if they do this...I'll get this out there right now.
Well, I went to ebay and did a search for "Leica 1200". A number of NIB Leica 1200's with USA 2 year warranty were on auction from an authorized Leica dealer in New York named "Willoughby's". Apparently, they've been around for over 100 years and have a decent reputation on ebay. They had "buy-it-now" prices of $499--the typical full price. Auctions started at $360 or $250 with an unknown reserve price. They had an 800 number so I figured I'd give them a call and ask what their reserve price was. You can always ask, right? $395.00 was the answer. Nobody was bidding on their auctions probably because they figured that the buy-it-now price was the reserve price, which is often the case, but not this time. So,I just waited until there was 10 seconds to go in the auction and could see that no one else was bidding, and submitted a bit for $395. Done deal. It should be in the mail tomorrow.
I was a little hesitent to mention this on this site without receiving the unit first to check it out, so keep that in mind. However, Willoughby's had a number of these units near the end of their auction (in a few more minutes and then some more tomorrow or the next day) and I thought I might help some folks out with this information. It's likely that if those units are not sold at the current auction, they'll end up right back on ebay for the same prices.
Good luck,
Jon Denham
I've been trying to figure out which rangefinder to get for some time. Everyone here and eslewhere has had two "words" for me: Leica 1200. But $500? Ouch!
Now, I'm not taking any responsibility for what might happen to anybody if they do this...I'll get this out there right now.
Well, I went to ebay and did a search for "Leica 1200". A number of NIB Leica 1200's with USA 2 year warranty were on auction from an authorized Leica dealer in New York named "Willoughby's". Apparently, they've been around for over 100 years and have a decent reputation on ebay. They had "buy-it-now" prices of $499--the typical full price. Auctions started at $360 or $250 with an unknown reserve price. They had an 800 number so I figured I'd give them a call and ask what their reserve price was. You can always ask, right? $395.00 was the answer. Nobody was bidding on their auctions probably because they figured that the buy-it-now price was the reserve price, which is often the case, but not this time. So,I just waited until there was 10 seconds to go in the auction and could see that no one else was bidding, and submitted a bit for $395. Done deal. It should be in the mail tomorrow.
I was a little hesitent to mention this on this site without receiving the unit first to check it out, so keep that in mind. However, Willoughby's had a number of these units near the end of their auction (in a few more minutes and then some more tomorrow or the next day) and I thought I might help some folks out with this information. It's likely that if those units are not sold at the current auction, they'll end up right back on ebay for the same prices.
Good luck,
Jon Denham
