Is it fine to buy a refurbished Nikon D600? Or just pay extra $500 for a new one?

Is it fine to buy a refurbished Nikon D600? Or just pay extra $500 for a new one?

Actually, that extra $500 alone is enough to buy a new dSLR. It may be just entry-level but it's new. Now if your camera has to be high-end then go ahead. Just make sure it's factory-refurbished. If elsewhere, you can't be sure about it anymore.

As long as it was refurbished by Nikon, it will almost as good as new. I bought a D5000 sometime back, and the shutter count was only 40!
You never know why a camera was returned. Sometimes people returned it just because their mind.

Buy refurbished, D600 had oil spill on sensor on the first models and all returned for servicing and where replaced. Oil on sensor can still occur, but after a 3000 shots it is gone, so get prepared for the worse what is sensor cleaning if you see spot on the picture. But, if you go for a d600, buy a refurbished one, most of them have less than a hundred shots only.