5 tech products I would never buy second hand

Buying second hand is a great way to save money, whether it’s a car, a piece of furniture or electronics. I’m constantly searching Facebook Marketplace for used deals, but there are a few lines I refuse to cross.

Here are some items I avoid secondhand, even at bargain prices.

OLED TVs and monitors

I love my OLED TV; the picture quality is so much better than the backlit LCD model it replaced. I’d love to buy another one when the time comes, especially as the panels now get much brighter than my five year old model. But I would only consider a brand new OLED panel whether I’m buying a TV or a gaming monitor.

Although burn-in, or permanent image retention, is much less of a problem than it used to be, the ‘O’ in OLED stands for organic. The use of organic material means that the electroluminescent diodes that make up a panel will slowly deteriorate over time. Although the lifespan of an OLED panel can reach the 100,000 hour mark, problems can occur much earlier.

So-called burn-in occurs when certain pixels are used to display the same pattern over hundreds or thousands of hours. This uneven panel wear causes some pixels to wear out faster. If you watch the same content with the same patterns day in and day out, you will eventually encounter this problem.

I don’t worry about burn-in on my own TV as it is used for many different types of content. Even if I’m completely addicted to a game like Battlefield 6 over a few hundred hours, where the on-screen map and UI icons appear in the same spot every game, I know this isn’t enough to cause permanent image retention.

The problem with second-hand TVs and monitors is that you simply don’t know how they have been treated. While most panels are probably fine, there’s no way to tell if the TV has been used for years to watch 5,000 hours of rolling news. Panel wear can cause color shifts, such as yellow also appearing green.

OLED monitors and TVs have dropped significantly in price, and that will continue. If you’re on a budget, a good LCD or mini-LED is a better buy if you turn to the second-hand market.

Headphones and earbuds

Headphones and earbuds are among the top items when it comes to items you shouldn’t sell or buy second hand. It’s pretty obvious why in-ear earbuds shouldn’t be shared, but it can also be very difficult to properly disinfect headphones without breaking them. Most don’t have a water resistance rating, which means they’re limited to spot fixes when it comes to cleaning.

I would go as far as to say that you should even avoid items described as “brand new in box.” I would have a hard time trusting that description, and I would also immediately wonder if the items were real if they were sold in “brand new” condition on a used marketplace.

Putting the biohazard factor aside for a moment, both earbuds and headphones are items that are subject to a lot of abuse on a daily basis. My AirPods Pro 3 are used several hours a day, in sweaty environments like the gym, and I frequently drop them and their charging case.

Wireless headphones and earbuds come with non-removable batteries, which start to deteriorate from the moment they are first used. One of the biggest benefits I noticed when I upgraded from the original AirPods Pro was a big jump in battery life, thanks in large part to the fact that the cells are new.

The good news is that there are plenty of brand new budget options to choose from.

Removable memory cards

I wouldn’t blame you for avoiding all storage-based second-hand purchases, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t looked into server-grade hard drives for a NAS build in the past. Those drives may be built for heavy use, but removable memory cards are not.

It’s always handy to have a few spare SD and microSD cards lying around, but it’s best to buy them new because you don’t know how the previous owner handled used cards. This type of flash memory tends to “wear out” more quickly than solid state and hard drives, so if the drive has been used in a way that has severely degraded it (such as in a Raspberry Pi with Home Assistant), then you risk possible data loss.

If you’re using the card in a device like a camera or a video doorbell that risks total data loss that you simply can’t get back, the stakes are high. It is better to spend a little more money on a new memory card from a recognized brand.

Gamepads and some gaming handhelds

I probably go through a gamepad every two years, and that’s as someone who doesn’t have much time for gaming these days. Stick drift is the killer that always rears its ugly head, where analog sticks start to register input even when you’re not applying pressure to the stick.

This is caused by dirty potentiometers, and it is unavoidable with these old-fashioned stick designs. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all use these types of sticks on their current generation consoles, including the Xbox Series, PlayStation 5 and both generations of Switch.

These weaknesses can be found on many handhelds, such as the Switch Lite and Valve Steam Deck. While you can absolutely replace these mechanisms with new ones (and even upgrade to Hall effect sticks in the case of the Steam Deck), this will require time and effort on your part and an investment in spare parts. Controllers also have a tendency to get beat up, whether that’s from falling off the couch or being punished during “heated gamer moments.”

The main exception to this is retro stuff that you simply can’t buy new anymore. If you shop for vintage hardware, you’re probably also willing to put in a little more effort to restore it.

Smart watches

I love my Apple Watch, I would buy another one tomorrow if it broke. While a used smartwatch is better than no smartwatch, I’m not convinced the savings justify the downsides.

My biggest concern is battery life. The batteries in an Apple Watch are quite small, and this becomes apparent as your wearable ages. You can no longer rely on all-day battery life, especially if you track a lot of workouts or use your Watch as a mobile device.

There is also the issue of hygiene, as cloth straps tend to take on an odor after a few years of use. This is especially true for watches that have been used to track intense workouts, which is one of their most important features.

Now let’s do some sums. Let’s say you buy an Apple Watch Series 8 41mm model. A battery service costs $99 from Apple, and a new Sport Loop costs $49 (again, from Apple). Add this $150 to the price you pay for your watch, which currently ranges from about $120 to $150.

Now consider that you can buy a brand new Apple Watch SE3 for $249 for the 40mm model or $279 for the 44mm model. If you fancy it, you can also get a brand new Series 11 starting at $399. Plus, you’ll be the first to wear it, the first to sweat on the band, and the first to scratch it.

There are other wearables to choose from, but they have the same drawbacks (even if the resolutions have less Apple power).

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Conversely, there are plenty of gadgets that you should buy second-hand.