42nd Street is one of the many bait-and-switch photo/video shops based in NY.
The advertize prices that are lower than B&H and Amazon, but:
- after placing your order, you get an email asking you to call and "verify" your order
- during this call, you are asked to buy additional options; those options are extremely overpriced
- some of the options offered are the accessories that normally come with the product
- if you decline all options, you will typically be told that the item is not in stock, and in can take weeks to arrive (unless you order a bundle with the options, which IS in stock
- if you do finally get the item without the options, standard accessories have been removed from the box.
When you go to Bizrate, Nextag, etc to read review, don't read the positive reviews. They've clearly been written by 42nd employees. Read the negative reviews to get a good taste of their real way of doing business.
B&H all the way, I purchased my NX5U from them in January of this year Love the camera.
I did get the optional HXR-FMU128 Flash drive and do not regret it at all I record HD to the 16 gig cards and SD to the flash drive very very nice (costs is up there but well worth it, 11 hours full HD record time).
Love the quick service from them, I bought several other pieces from them since and they even got here a day early. Does not happen every time but 2 day delivery for 3 day cost is OK in my book.
They have it for $3,995.00 that is more than 42βnd but you get much better service and safer purchase.
There may be other reputable places, but you will NEVER go wrong buying from B&H Photo. I've bought from them for years, spending thousands of dollars. Granted, I don't speak to any representatives (I do my research on-line via other users), but to order and purchase, they are the absolute best.