Used Gear / recorders - When is “too old”?

Question

I am in the process of getting a proper rig for sound effects recording and have been looking into buying sound devices gear, either mixpre-d or 722 used.

I know they have a reputation of being very robust, but some of the stuff on offer is 10 years old and i am worrying if that would be worth it? I mean even their stuff has to have a limited lifetime...especially units with HD (moving parts).

Is it worth the risk to buy something that old? Actually most of the SD gear that has been on offer around here has been so old...usually priced at 50% of what it would cost to buy new.

And another thought: Since sound devices just released a new multitrack recorder, are there any rumours (or official anoucements?) of an upcoming update to their stereo line that might be worth waiting for?

Thanks! D.

Answer 1

I'm not sure if there is a sounddevices forum where you could ask these kinds of questions, since they're rather brand related. You could check on: jwsoundgroup.net/index.php?/forum/16-equipment/

with regards to other brands, i've been very lucky to buy a 2nd hand sonosax recorder for a good price, simply by keeping an eye out for about 1 year. it's a now discontinued model, but it performance is good (sometimes better than new products in the same price range). it has an outdated but well working SD card-drive for mirroring recordings with the SSD and has usb2 only. warranty is the only thing missing, but with this type of recorder you won't need that anytime soon, they're rock solid (as with SD i think). however, with any investment of any kind above $1000,- do consider when you think you'll need more input channels or other features. my guess is that you might want to start multitracking with 2 mic setups (ortf and ms in my case) and in that case a 744T is a better investment than a 702 or any other 2track recorder.

have you considered renting a 702 or something else? just to see if you find any limitations that will pop up within a year (before you make enough money to put on a shelve as a backup and buy a new recorder).