I've bought a Reconditioned Dewalt 14.4V XRP and a Hitachi M12V from Amazon, and a Porter Cable Drywall Screw Gun at a Dewalt/Porter Cable Service Center. After nearly two years of use, the M12V quit running but when I took it to a local svc ctr, it started working & they could find nothing wrong, so about 4 months later, it quit for good. I checked it myself and found the speed control module ka-put!!!! I suspect this was the problem from the very first, but the fault was intermittant and didn't show up when reconditioned. Since it was well out of warranty, and MY cost for a new speed control was around $85 + tax, I (due to good information from some folks here), managed to catch a good price at amazon and just bought a new one for quite a bit less, (I might add), than I had paid for the reconditioned one a couple of years before).
I also bought a DeWalt CMS from a Sears Store, and it had never been off the display rack and had never even been plugged into electricity at the store. It had a few small items missing, so they marked it as Reconditioned,
gave me a VERY Good price, and said to contact Dewalt to get the missing parts. I called DeWalt and told them the exact details of the transaction and asked for a price on the missing items, but his ONLY reply was, what is your delivery address for UPS. I gave that to him and he said thank you for buying DeWalt, and three days later, all the missing parts, (and a replacement manual) arrived at my door completely Free of Charge. The saw has worked Flawlessly from day one, as well as the DeWalt XRP and the Porter Cable Drywall Drill.
All in All, if the price is right, the warranty is the same as a new one, AND it is from a reputable dealer, I think that the odds of getting a bad unit is no worse than with a brand new unit, (which could also quit just after the warranty runs out). I've been pleased with my results, saved a lot of Bucks, and I'm sure some of my future purchases will again be "Reconditioned".