I decided to try the refurbished model because the price was great and I assumed "refurbished" referred to a new item that had been returned and carefully checked to make sure it worked properly. But the first one I received was clearly used (black plastic on both screens completely scratched and faded -- looked like it had been used in a hot car and trashed by kids for a year or more). When I tried watching DVDs, it played them fine, but then it would fall open for no reason and the DVD would stop. Turns out the latch on the top was broken (more evidence of significant use/abuse). So that one went back to Amazon. The replacement I received the next day looked new (still had plastic film covering the shiny black plastic) but it would not play 7 of 10 discs we tried. We even tried a brand new DVD and still got a "bad disc" error! So that one is going back to amazon too. Makes me wonder if anyone is checking these things.
I'm giving this two stars because when it does work -- the sound and picture is much better than our old player (larger 9" size is a huge improvement), the controls are intuitive, and the design is good (the mounting straps work much better than the velcro straps from our old system).
For some reason I decided to try one more replacement. Hoping three's a charm ... if not, it's going back to amazon for a refund and we'll buy a different brand, or at least a non-refurbished model. Amazon handles returns well (UPS picked up the defective one and gave us a replacement the next day) so for me it's worth the risk to try this once more!