90 day Labor Warranty

[propwash]

I was wondering what everyone thinks of Panasonic dropping their labor warranty to just 90 days. I have usually had excellent results with Panasonic products, and I have the additonal advantage of living only about 20 minutes from their US warranty repair site.

I have been using a Lumix DMX LC33 (3megs, 3x optical) and have had excellent results with it. This camera came with a full year warranty on both parts and labor. I am now ready to move on to a superzoom, and I was very interesed in the FZ3. I would like to stay with Panasonic for various reasons, among them being that I have lots of SD cards and a card reader, and going to another memory format would be somewhat of a hassle. I also am familiar with the menu system and how Panasonics work, and I am comfortable with that.

Another camera I am considering is the Canon FS1 IS, which uses CF cards, but has a one year warranty on both parts and labor. Does anyone else put much weight on warranty length when making a pruchase decision, or am I being too picky? I like the fact that the FZ3 is a little smaller than the 15 and the 20. and it is very close in size to the Canon.

Just wondering what you think about length of warranty coverage. Thanks for your help.

[John_Reed]

I was wondering what everyone thinks of Panasonic dropping their labor warranty to just 90 days. I have usually had excellent results with Panasonic products, and I have the additonal advantage of living only about 20 minutes from their US warranty repair site.

I have been using a Lumix DMX LC33 (3megs, 3x optical) and have had excellent results with it. This camera came with a full year warranty on both parts and labor. I am now ready to move on to a superzoom, and I was very interesed in the FZ3. I would like to stay with Panasonic for various reasons, among them being that I have lots of SD cards and a card reader, and going to another memory format would be somewhat of a hassle. I also am familiar with the menu system and how Panasonics work, and I am comfortable with that.

Another camera I am considering is the Canon FS1 IS, which uses CF cards, but has a one year warranty on both parts and labor. Does anyone else put much weight on warranty length when making a pruchase decision, or am I being too picky? I like the fact that the FZ3 is a little smaller than the 15 and the 20. and it is very close in size to the Canon.

Just wondering what you think about length of warranty coverage. Thanks for your help.I had the same warranty coverage on my FZ1, and never had to send it in; I have the feeling that most things that need repairing will probably show symptoms well within the 90-day labor period. I know of all the hundreds of FZ1 owners who frequent the dpreview boards, I never really heard of anyone having to send one in for warranty repairs. So I expect the FZ3 to follow the same pattern, as it looks like it's built about the same way.

[propwash]

I need to correct a previous post. I originally indicated that the warranty on my LUMIX DMC-LC33 was 12 months for both parts and labor. I was just looking at the manual, and it states that the labor warranty is only 90 days. This camera was purchased in November of '03, so I guess the change to a 90 day labor warranty had to have taken place some time before then.
On the other hand, it could be that the warranty has always been 90 days for labor. At this point, I'm not sure any more.

On the brighter side, the camera has performed flawlessly, and no warranty service has yet been needed (knock on wood!).