After hearing a lot of guy's say Refurb's were simply bad scopes fixed, I did some checking. Refurbs are as 338 states. They are not broken or returned because they don't function properly. Those scopes are taken out of circulation, actually cut in half! Refurb's are open stock, demo's, writer samples and show stock. While they don't come with the regular Nikon lifetime warranty, they should look brand new when you get one.
I hope this info. helps?