What our grades actually promise.
Buying used is a question of trust, and a grade is only worth something if it means the same thing every time. This is the standard our technicians work to — including the parts that are inconvenient for us.
Typically kit that was bought, used for a few weeks and traded in — the impulse purchase that did not stick.
Pristine
Indistinguishable from new at arm’s length. Little or no cosmetic wear, low hours, usually still boxed.
- No marks visible at arm’s length in normal light
- Optics free of scratches, haze and coating damage
- Battery health 93% or better where a battery is fitted
- Usually still in original packaging with all accessories
The bulk of what we sell. Genuinely used equipment that performs exactly as it should and looks like it has been owned.
Excellent
Clear signs of use on the outside — scuffs, light marks, sometimes a replaced shell panel. Nothing that changes how it performs.
- Scuffs, light scratches or polish marks on the shell
- Possible replaced cosmetic panel, arm or face pad
- Battery health 85% or better where a battery is fitted
- Original box not guaranteed — ships protected either way
Priced for people who want the capability and do not care how it looks. Every fault is written on the listing.
Good
Visibly worn and sometimes repaired. Fully functional and fully tested, priced to reflect the cosmetics rather than hide them.
- Obvious cosmetic damage: deep scratches, cracked trim, worn grips
- May include a documented functional repair
- Battery health 78% or better where a battery is fitted
- Accessories may be aftermarket rather than original
The 38-point test.
Headsets
- Panel test for dead pixels and mura
- Lens inspection under a raking lamp
- Tracking accuracy against a fixed reference
- Controller drift and every button
- Battery capacity test, result published
- Facial interface replaced or deep-cleaned
Drones
- Flight log pulled and read for crash history
- Motor current draw on all arms
- Gimbal calibration and level hold
- Camera glass and sensor check
- Obstacle sensors triggered individually
- A real test flight, outdoors, by a person
Control and cams
- Every switch, stick and gimbal exercised
- Hall-effect centring and drift test
- Screen brightness and dead pixel check
- Antenna and receiver diversity test
- DVR write test to a fresh card
- Waterproof seals replaced and pressure tested
Some kit gets recycled instead.
- Swollen or damaged batteries. These are removed and recycled, never shipped. A drone with a bad cell gets a new one before it is listed.
- Water damage. Corrosion on a board means the unit is stripped for parts, whatever it currently appears to do.
- Cracked optics or delaminated coatings. Cosmetic wear is fine; anything you look through has to be right.
- Airframes with structural repairs. A replaced cosmetic shell is a Grade B or C. A glued or reinforced structural arm is a recycle, because we cannot warrant it in the air.
- Anything we cannot identify. No serial number, no provenance, no sale — we log and check serials against the national property register before buying.