Refurbishment: Old New Things

As I'm sure everyone here is painfully aware, gaming is an expensive hobby. When we've come to see a $350 Xbox as "relatively inexpensive" you know your wallet is in for some body blows when it comes time to buy a system. For those of us who want a cheaper system, there are few options: we can buy a lower end system, sacrificing features, or we can go the refurbished route, sacrificing... what exactly?

I've been looking into buying a refurbished 60GB PS3 for $425. I know that "refurbishment" can mean anything from "the box was opened" to "the motherboard burst into flames," and that they generally come with some sort of limited warranty.

I'm curious though: has anybody here bought a refurbished system? What experience have you had with refurbished hardware?

[EDIT]: I decided to get a new 40 gig, for now at least. I can return it any time for the next 90 days, so I may do that at the end of May and pay the difference when the MGS4 bundle comes out. Yeah, I'm tricky