Is An Extended Warranty Worth It For These Canon Lenses?

[Andrius Simutis]

$270 each? Nope. Not worth it. No way.
$540 will get you five years of CPS membership, and if you ebay the books and straps they send you then it's a fraction of that. CPS will clean your lenses every year and give you a hefty discount on any repair as well as a loaner if it's going to be a while. Heck, you can wait until you have an issue and join CPS saving even more money.
Besides CPS, L lenses don't tend to have too many problems for the first five years anyway. Back in the day when I was shooting photos every day in the snow and traveling all over the place I didn't have any issues with lenses breaking down. Neither did any of the other guys banging their Canon gear around. Some of the non L lenses had issues, but those are fairly well known 'cough cough 17-55 f2.8IS' and even then they don't cost $540 to fix.
In my experience, the only time lenses failed was from impacts, drops, or getting completely submerged in water...all things that an extended warranty won't cover. Get insurance instead if you're a working pro, or get it listed on your homeowners/renters insurance since that will cover that kind of accidental damage.

[ROCKMORE]

Haha.... That sucks..... The Danish buyers law has those rules as default. If something is wrong within the first six months the immediate assumption is manufacturing error. We have 1 year guarantee and 2 years right to complain.
The third time that the same thing is wrong we can demand a replacement.

This is the basic law..... Sucks that you have to pay for yours =-O

If you need to join in international political bashing discussions, there are much more appropriate forums on the web.

[legrevedotcom]

I'm ok with it. Your tax rates are about 5x higher than mine.

Im ok with 5x times higher.... Free doctor and hospital treatment whatever happens... subsidised dentistry.... Free school.... And educational subsidies (you get around 1000dollars a month while studying college or university which is also free.) :-)

[Legion6789]

Haha.... That sucks..... The Danish buyers law has those rules as default. If something is wrong within the first six months the immediate assumption is manufacturing error. We have 1 year guarantee and 2 years right to complain.
The third time that the same thing is wrong we can demand a replacement.

This is the basic law..... Sucks that you have to pay for yours =-O

I'm ok with it. Your tax rates are about 5x higher than mine.

[Legion6789]

Not much difference there.

I suppose the end result is the same. But one is covered, the other is not.

[ROCKMORE]

floods.

river

Not much difference there.

[legrevedotcom]

Haha.... That sucks..... The Danish buyers law has those rules as default. If something is wrong within the first six months the immediate assumption is manufacturing error. We have 1 year guarantee and 2 years right to complain.
The third time that the same thing is wrong we can demand a replacement.

This is the basic law..... Sucks that you have to pay for yours =-O

[Legion6789]

I checked with my insurance company and managed to get a floater for my camera equipment. It works out to $20/month and covers all perils except nuclear disaster, war, terrorism and floods. So if I trip and smash my camera it's covered. $20/month is easier on the wallet from a cash flow perspective than $600 up front for a warranty that doesn't cover accidental. Plus insurance covers my 5D3 body, the warranties only cover the lenses. I figure it's far more likely that I'd slip on a rock and fall into a river trying to get a shot than the lens just stopping working.

[cookinghusband]

I have generation 1 of these two lens for few years now, no problem yet. I am a semi rough user. but 4 years may be worth it, if U use it every other day

[Steve Kahn]

In my limited experience I have never had a problem with a lens. And I only could assume the biggest issues are dropping them or banging them into something which scratches the glass or damages the body. Since that is only covered 20% I'm not sure how valuable a policy like that would be for me personally.

btw just got the 70-200 f4.0 IS and love that lens!

[DevonH]

If you can afford it and you believe you'll be putting them through fairly heavy use, go for it.

[Legion6789]

I just picked up the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM ($2100) and the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM ($2280) lenses. They come with a 1 year warranty from Canon. For $270 each I can get 4 year extended warranties for them. The extended warranties give you straight exchange in the first 90 days if anything goes wrong. They also have a lemon policy so if the lens has to be repaired twice, on the third time you get a straight replacement. If the problem is due to something not covered by the warranty, like physical damage, they give you 20% off the cost of repair. The warranty is transferable, so if I sold the lenses the new owner would be covered.

So is it worth getting the extended warranty for $270 per lens?