One thing I've noticed when browsing (i've never bought lenses from B+H, only about $1k of tripod gear), is that whenever they have rebates or sales, it's only on the genuine USA stock, and with the rebate they end up cheaper than the grey-imports. So if you want something, and you don't need it straight away, it seems to be worth waiting to get the genuine stock cheaper-than-grey in the next sale.
That said, for me it's a non-issue, because I'm buying from Australia, so if I did buy from B+H I get no warranty anyway. There's a shop over here called JBHifi that have just started doing grey-market importing, and they're offering the same deal, no Canon warranty but JB warranty for a year. I can't comment on service here, but when my 7D needed fixing in The Netherlands, I called Canon and they said I *had* to go to the shop, so whether it's a shop-warranty or Canon warranty, it wouldn't have made a difference to repair turnaround-time.
Canon Aus CPS also won't recognise it for membership, you have to provide local-shop receipts for everything (ie, you can't even buy a few second-hand bodies to qualify, it has to be full-price over-inflated-Aus-price from a registered dealer), plus having to provide business details and whatnot. In short, CPS Aus is *only* for the top of the top pro photogs over here, no hobbyists allowed...
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Originally Posted by Dr Croubie
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