I have a friend who wants to unload his S&W bodyguard, the polymer one they came out with a few years ago. I am sure he has less than 500 rounds through it.

Is it worth buying? And at what price?

I kind of like the LCR and they seem to have a good rep, haven't heard much bout the smith.

I bought one with high hopes because the price meant the laser was essentially free compared to buying a 642 + crimson trace.

The lockwork on the BG38 is a different configuration than the other J frames i've seen/owned/fired; instead of a lever that rotates the cylinder, there is a star shaped metal ring that is molded to engage with the cylinder - that star shaped metal ring rotates rather than a lever reaching out and turning the cylinder.  There were more differences readily apparent than just the physical engagement with the cylinder that I noticed - on my 642 and other J frames, when you pull the trigger partially, the cylinder rotates however far you've pulled the trigger. If you release the trigger, the cylinder remains in the same half-rotated position until you pull the trigger again, farther than you did the first time. When you pass the point where you previously had pulled the trigger, the cylinder resumes rotating as the little lever pushes it farther around.  On the BG38, when you release the trigger halfway through a pull, the cylinder stays halfway rotated towards the next round, BUT, if you then pull the trigger again, the cylinder continues rotating IMMEDIATELY towards the next round, even before you have pulled the trigger enough to go past the point where it was pulled previously.  The lockwork engages from the very moment the trigger begins it's travel; it's an entirely different mechanism.  It feels very different and I noticed it in the store, but was excited about the gun and assumed S&W would know wtf they were doing with lockwork by now, and I liked the ambidextrous cylinder release as I usually keep the .38 for a left hand backup to my normal carry.  The laser being not 'grip activated' was kind of shitty, but a revolver that I could operate the cylinder release left handed with a 'free' laser for the price...i figured I could learn to thumb it on.

My wife was dry firing it at home, practicing the trigger pull with the neato laser dot and an empty gun.  She was slow firing, then decided to fire quickly - in her haste, she half pulled the trigger, not quite far enough to drop the hammer - and then released it. She then tried to pull the trigger fully from it's 'reset' position.
When she did, the entire mechanism locked up with the hammer cocked.
The cylinder wouldn't open either. If the gun had been loaded, i'd have had had a cocked .38SPL and no way to un-cock it or remove the live round.  It took a tiny screwdriver to un-jam it (you can see a little plunger from the bottom of the trigger guard; that had to be mucked with to allow it to disengage.  I still don't understand why they would expose that lockwork where it never needed to be on the other J frames).  I took it back to the store i purchased it at. They gave me a credit which I used on a nice model 65.

As far as I am concerned, I think the lockwork on the bg38 is inherently flawed, and I wouldn't pay a dime for one.  At the time I had only shot 2 cylinders through the gun.  If my wife had been using it to defend her life, she would've had a completely useless gun after a single shot.  I bought crimson trace grips for ~150$ for a 642 instead.