We are looking at the Sciton Joule and have the opportunity to purchase the demo model with a 1 year warranty. Or would it be a wiser choice to lease a new model with a 3 year warranty?

Lazergirl,

I currently own a Sciton profractional and looked at expanding to the joule. We love our profractional but I really was not impressed with the laser lipo portion. The BBL was ok, but I feel that there are better ipl systems out there. I would recommend 3 years of service and try to work with the rep or manager on including extra years of service at no charge since they can range from $9,000 to $15,000 per year. Tell Sciton you are willing to commit if you can get these extra years at no charge, otherwise you may look at other pieces of technology. They should give you what you want

So if I am understanding this correctly Dr. Chris, you would advise to lease a new model rather then purchase a demo model?

Leasing is always better than buying. I dont know about your local taxation law, but with leasing, the payment is 100% tax deductible for us. With purchasing, you are stick with the technology for life.

It happened to me 2 years ago when I leased a $135,000 laser, the laser kept failing, and even the service guy had made numerous attempts to make it worked. I eventually called my leasing company to hold on the monthly payment, and I did explain to my leasing company regarding the situation. Due to the fact, this leasing company has many leasing deals with this "xxxxxxxx " laser company, subsequently, I was " exchanged" with the demo model from the manufacturer.

If you were to buy a used or demo one, you are on your own.
Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for the input! Anyone else have any opinions or thoughts?? I greatly appreciate any feedback!

If you can help it, do not buy a used laser. It is a nightmare if your pre-owned laser needs repair. Make sure you have somebody to service the machine for you before you make the purchase. Do not rely on the used laser salesman. They will give you no help when things really happen. The origiinal laser company wiil charge you big time for repair and parts. I am sure there are some decent used laser company but do your homework.

I have a Sciton and it is an excellent laser. We have the platform with the BBL and double yag. I am not a fan of the profractional at all. We have a Fraxel Restore and even though the 2 technologies are regularly compared the results are not comparable at all.
I am a firm believer in leasing due to the fact that technology changes so fast it would be a shame to have a $100 000+ coat rack. Having said this the Sciton is a platform and can be upgrade through software upgrades so for this you may want to consider your decision based on costs, where the laser is coming from, how many hours are on it and with a complete copy of the service record. 1 year warrenty is not enough. When something goes wrong (and it will) it can be a small fortune not to mention profits lost due to down time of the laser.
One last thought I would also consider the company I am buying it from..if your buying it from a distributor who sell this equipment old or new your pretty safe, but if your buying it from someone trying to get rid of it I would be weary.
Good luck on your purchase which ever way you decide to go.

Cheers.

Thank you! I appreciate your input and is very helpful in the decision process!

Sciton seems willing to negotiate price for their year end sale. I've been quoted $120K for a JOULE with BBL, SkinTyte, Contour and Profractional XC but only with a 1 yr warranty. Is that a good price? I am still negotiating with my rep.

clh, Your Sciton rep will be under tremendous pressure to make his numbers (his being generic for his/her). I'd push heavily for a longer warranty since the first year is something of a gimmie. You can see by the numbers they're pushing a lot of stuff into the sale to pump up that number.

It appears from the thread above that the majority view is that leasing is the best option. Is that so? Are there any differing opinions? I'd like to hear from some of the laser refurbishers as to what they think.

Sciton wants another $26,712 for 2 more years of warranty. That's ridiculously expensive and like twice as much as other laser companies, right?

clh - don't know what you're getting from Sciton in the way of a warranty and how much machinery you are putting under an extended warranty, but that figure isn't far off - I don't think. I'm not saying it's worth it - because I don't think it is. But I know Syneron would have charged me about the same to extend the warranties on my lasers. I said no thanks. I am taking the risk that the machinery won't break. I figure Syneron will fix it and charge me out the rear. But I couldn't stomach the cost of the warranty.

Looking at buying the sciton joule 7 with just the pro fractional and MLP to start - rep quoted 123k with 3 year warranty (it's 150 something with BBL minus skin tyte but we have a decent IPL already). Any thoughts if we can push for better price?

Mickey,

I think you need to add ALL laser companies into this not just Sciton. I own lasers from Cutera, Sciton, Lumenis, Hoya ConBio, Solera and Lutronic. Every single one of them does this crap not just Sciton.

LH

i agree totally with M.Couvertier, the cost of sciton repairs is high.And you can t go to independent repair companies.

but i have to say that sciton has high quality products.,

Mickey,

I have had the same issues with ALL of the laser companies not just Sciton. I just had to send in my BBL for repair I have not seen the bill yet but they sent me a replacement to use while mine is being repaired.

I have a Cutera that I needed a 20 cent O-ring and Cutera refuses to send me one. Of all of my lasers, my Cutera has the worst resale value. I paid 130K for it and i would be lucky to get about 20K for it today. The next problem with my Cutera is the company tends to over promise on what their laser can do.

My point is that it is not just Sciton. I have had the same experience with Cutera and Hoya ConBio. I agree that these companies should be required to sell parts to you or other laser repair techs. All of the companies ask outrageous prices for their warranties / service contracts. I do not like being held hostage by any of these companies. If I were to maintain the service contracts on all of my lasers I would be paying over 100k per year in service contracts.