Originally Posted by
tharris
Also, we are travelling to Thailand next week (change planes in Tokyo, stay in BKK and Khao Lak). Is it cheaper or prudent to buy the Nikon there?
[1] I have a couple of D200's and they are as good as any DSLR out there both in general and in and terms of your specific requirements.
[2] Nikon USA is very adamant about what they will and will not repair.
Unless you have a valid receipt from the authorized Nikon dealer outside of the U.S. where you bought your equipment, Nikon USA will not even touch your gear - and you have to send in that receipt any time you want service [all authorized Nikon USA gear has a US prefix in the serial number so they know - you can not even pay them full price to service their non-USA gear even if the warranty is still in effect].
Otherwise you would have to send it to the official Nikon service center for the country/region where you bought it.
Considering the current value of the dollar, the recent USA D200 price reduction and the rebate it just doesn’t make any sense to me to buy a camera like that out of the country.
Your mileage may vary...