jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I got the Nov Consumer Reports today, and B&H is at the top of the list of online retailers. :thumbup:

lightchime Loc: Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Not a surprise. They have always treated me very well. Good knowledge, helpful, friendly, great on returns - even when the mistake was mine, lots of products and unbelievably honest. The only place I find better is Costco - but their photo section is not so big.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

I've heard a visit to B&H will amaze you.
I looked for it while trying to track my wife when she ran the NYC marathon. In hindsight, it was probably a good thing I didn't find it.
B&H and Adorama are my go-to mail order places if our local stores don't have what I need.

unclebe1 Loc: NYC & Wellington, FL

Ya didn't look very hard.....It takes up the whole block between 33rd and 34th Streets on 9th Ave. You won't find it on the marathon route, but it's not that far. :) There's no better place to lose yourself (and some dough if you have any). You can play with ALL the toys! I may live in VA, but my granddaughter lives in NYC so I have to visit B&....I mean my granddaughter at least once a month....if not more. :roll:

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

B&H has always treated me right, I agree they deserve the recognition.

Festina Lente Loc: Florida & Missouri

B&H deserves the rating. They have ALWAYS been a first class outfit - return policy, items in stock, communications, ease of buying, website, and technical support.

You may find stuff for less elsewhere, but finding better or more comprehensive service is very very hard.

katbandit Loc: new york city

I agree that b and h is an amazing place..in fact it boggles the mind to see this humongous store..I can't believe that goofynewfie didn't find the place..that's a shame ..he will just have to make a point to come back to New York ..;-). But don't overlook Adorama..they are a smaller operation but their service is wonderful too..I like going there and they take time out to explain and show you their products..just recently I went into the store and then had them ship the merchandise down to florida ..speedy and efficiently...
I use both stores for large or expensive orders but for smaller items I try amazon..

Michael O' Loc: Midwest right now

Over the past 10 or 12 years I have had good luck with B&H, but well over a month ago I sought council from their photo division to obtain the best I could afford (no $5000 roller type) slide and negative digital conversion and storage system to digitalize about 10,000 color slides
35 mm, and maybe that many negatives, 35mm, 2 1/4 X 2 1/4, and 4X5. Everyone is always pleasant and attempts to be helpful, as have been the 4 sales/technical people and the manager I've worked with so far in the endless and still unsuccessful attempt to get a system that works. They started out by selling me a $2000 plus system for which they sold me 2T hard drives for the Iomega StorCenter PX6-300d were declared not usable on the Iomega website. The pleasant sales guy was not aware, and I surely had no idea -- that's why I went to (called, that is) B&H -- they supposedly have the moxie. Then they could not obtain for me hard drives that would work of a known quality make. Further, I have on the phone AND 3 times asked for a price on an additional plastic slide holder for the Epson V750-M Pro scanner for my system, on the assumption that I could load one more of the multi-slide holders while the additional one was being worked in the Twin lens 48-bit color dual lens 6400 dpi Epson. After these 4 inquiries, I have received NO answer -- just silence. Emphatic ignoral. They finally convinced me they could not obtain the hard drives I wanted, and so I accepted what they offered, and told them AGAIN not to ship them UPS because of their horrible service in my area, and I asked for USPostal Service or FedEx, both good service. They apparently shipped them UPS, who either lost them or delivered them somewhere else or did some weird thing with the pair of 2T units I ordered and paid for. I'm glad I didn't order the 6 I will eventually need or I would just be more upset. B&H and UPS are apparently arguing about what do do while B&H of course still has my $430 dollars or whatever (been so long I can't remember the figure offhand) for
the 2. Since Epson can be hard to get along with (I called to ask them something technical about the scanner and they wouldn't talk to me unless I gave them a credit card number they could charge against -- to provide information to convince me to buy. No way, paison. So my warranty is running and I sit here with a totally inoperative rig for which I NOW discover that I can't use with my MacBook pro unless I buy and use an interconnecting remote devise, about which none of the people I've talked to so far also had any prior knowledge. This whole thing has been a disaster, and I'm going to ask them to take the whole damned mess back -- it's useless to me -- and has become super aggravating, and all because I depended upon them for technical assistance, they thought they had it, and acted as if they did, and have just kept getting me in deeper and deeper in money and in wasted time and a into a "system that theoretically is superb but which in fact has had multifaceted incompatibilities.

Come to think of it I ordered some box-holders for some 20 X 24 B+W
prints I made of aircraft doing waterwork on the Mediterranean and they had to ship to me 3 times because their packaging people kept packing poorly and they came broken. They are very nice people, but incompetent. Beware. And I've spent many thousands of dollars with them over the years for Canon bodies and L series lenses. Beware.
You'd think it was the Ides of March.

trc Loc: Logan, OH

B&H http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ has always been very good to me over the years. I have purchased several photographic items from them, the latest being my Nikon D800. It did take 5 months to get from my order date, but I hold Nikon responsible for that long wait. Nikon 'spilled the beans' that it was ready for shipping, but the demand well exceeded the supply and Nikon just wasn't prepared for such an overwhelming response for that camera.

B&H has always been extremely courteous with me and have made several right-on recommendations. I have also purchased several computer related products from them and never had any problems. Most the time I get free UPS shipping which is very speedy and they have never failed me in their shipping and receiving dates (other than the D800, as explained earlier).

I've ordered from Adorama and I've had some difficulties as far as paying extra fees for getting the merchandise quicker. They used USPS, and that was one of the problems. However, after posting a complaint on the Internet, I soon received an email from Adorama. We emailed back and forth a couple times and reached an understanding. They were extremely nice in rectifying the misunderstanding and even refunded my extra shipping cost and sent me a discount on my next purchase.

I'm convinced the competition for electronic and photographic sales is fierce and the major and trusted online retail businesses will try their best to please customers and make things right if there is a disagreement or misunderstanding. Their reputations are extremely important to them and are certainly at stake. They have to maintain their 'image,' and, customers are very important to them for income and future sales.

Tom

Michael O' Loc: Midwest right now

Jerry, I've seem many many posts of yours and I think you are a nice guy, but I haven't placed any value on Consumer Reports for decades.
And as I've put in another post below, I have had a recent disaster conducted by the very pleasant but incompetent technical and sales people and manager in purchasing a not inexpensive slide and negative copying and digital storage system for about 20,000 shots I cannot replace. In short, I would not put undieing faith is Consumer Reports.
I can also tell you with assurance that some decades back when I was heavily involved in Radar maintenance (airborne search and fighter gunlaying sets, and later Matador Missile guidance system maintenance and modifications) and fine sound systems that Consumer Reports talked a good line but did not really have a good handle on electronics and sound systems. Thus I must admit that I'm pre-prejudiced against them. I don't "buy" what they have to say about the mechanicals and such on cars either. And I'm a degreed engineer and technical writer and have a son who is an ME and he and his brother are both Certified Master Mechanics, so we think and talk technicals. Don't get me wrong; I know to be helpful you're just passing along something you read, and have not made any actual recommendations yourself. Se la vie. Don't sweat it, as we used to say in the Air Force, but don't get taken in by self-aggrandizing outfits like Consumer Reports either. They are just out to make a buck too you know. How? By inducing us to thinking they have superior knowledge. Question it. Just between us guys, I'll accept your judgments before theirs.

Michael O' Loc: Midwest right now

By the way Jerry, I've been out your way a couple of times for training at the Winter Sports Lake placid Olympic Training Center, although we usually went to Colorado Springs. Lake Placid is surely in beautiful country !
Michael O'

JohnCadellPhotography

I have been a customer of B&H since I got started in photography in the 70s. There's a reason WHY B&H is generally regarded as the Macy's, and Adorama as the Gimble's in the photography world. These two are the veritable giants on the East Coast, with Samy’s in Southern California being the top place(s) for the West Coast – they have several locations throughout Southern California with Pasadena being their main professional store. A vast majority of the equipment in my two main gadget bags (including the bags) came from B&H. I got a tad bit annoyed with Adorama on a recent purchase of a Nikon 24mm-70mm f2.8 when I bought a used D2XS – B&H offered a set of filters with theirs, but Adorama didn’t – which really surprised me, as they generally will match each other. Both stores have terrific people who are knowledgeable and stand tall on their ethics. However, I think that B&H has the edge on sheer expanse and ability to bring in anything needed. After the issue with the prime I just bought, I’m sticking with B&H and Samy’s. 8-)

jscotthinkle

I have bought almost all my gear from B & H, and also recently from Hunts'. B & H is good but nothing to write home about. I like Hunts because they are smaller.

Michael O' Loc: Midwest right now

Years ago I bought my initial Canon bodies, lenses and and various accessories from Hunts, and they were helpful and professional but then partially dropped out of the photo business for a while. Interesting to hear they are back at it. Of course they, at least then, were not the size of B&H and so did not have such a tremendous inventory.

Michael O' Loc: Midwest right now

A whole block -- TWO stories.