I say that for the most part, a "refurbished" phone is every bit as good as a new phone, for one very good reason...most phones being replaced - especially those replaced in the first few weeks of ownership are replaced for either unrealistic expectations (such as "my old phone used to go for 5 days without a charge, but I have to charge this every day or two"), buyer's remorse, user error, poor battery charging practices, or software conflicts. In other words...nothing to do with the hardware at all.
Then, a great percentage that are replaced for "bad battery" are in fact 100% perfectly functional and the battery isn't the problem...once again it's unrealistic expectations, user error, poor charging practices or software conflicts. In fact, statistically it is reported that some 90% of all battery related replacements test well in the range of good.
Finally, if there was a problem that was hardware related, in all liklihood it's been identified and resolved, so if you're getting THAT phone as a replacement for the one you had, you're getting a phone that isn't going to have the problem it was returned for. In other words, you may be avoiding a yet-undetected problem with a new one, whereas the CLNR has been put to the test, failed, was repaired, and now is problem-free.
In fact, the MAXX I own now is a replacement for the RAZR I sent back because the battery was too small in the RAZR for my usage pattern. This MAXX is the MAX!! I am at 80% with over 8 hours of use so far today...granted it's been resting most of the day, but still, almost 9 hours and only 20% consumed.
