How safe are 360s to buy now?

[NRP]

My 360 is still working fine (mfg date: February 2006). Not one single problem with disc scratching, RRoD, or lock ups. It is horizontal. It's a bit noisy, but no noisier than my gaming PC (which I believe is a more fair comparison given its intended use).

I would say that any 360 purchased these days would be fine. Buy an in-store warranty if you are really paranoid about it and don't want to deal with MS' phone tech support.

 

[22psi]

u have 3 year RROD warranty standard anyways, falcons should be much more reliable.

 

[iceberg187]

Returns have gone down immensely since Microsoft acknowledged the problem.

 

[JNewt427]

I too would like to hear any other concrete evidence of late of the Quality of the present made consoles. I have yet to purchase one due to the known "Past" issues.

I would rather vomit, than go threw replacing consoles or sending them away to get fixed. The hassle alone is disturbing, but then turning around and saying that you will have to pay for it? WOW. Any manufacturing defects should be replaced free of charge. Customer service starts when you bought the console, not when you pay more money for it later down the road because something is wrong with it. Mind boggling this actually happens from a huge presance in the industry as Microsoft. Nobody likes to hear about defective products or quality, I think it's the absolute worst thing to hear about a company. Next to something about its CUstomer Service.

 

[inefficient]

Kids these days...

I'm getting a 360 Pro for Christmas (I already saw it)

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth!

 

[SugarCoat]

There has certainly been a nose dive in noise about the issue over the last few months. If you have any say in the matter and are in an area where new units are available (i know they are in the US and EU/Japan) i would definitely try to return a non-HDMI 360 for the newer holiday bundle. If not for the prospect of better reliability then at least for the 2 free games and the quieter disc drive. As far as im aware though you cant even find non-HDMI/Holiday bundle 360s which have superseded the old stock for well over the last month, and most places wont honor a return after that long. Unless you got cheated and sold an old unit recently you may have to put up a fight. In either case good luck.

 

[Rys]

Mine died recently, and my experience with Xbox Support in getting it repaired hasn't been brilliant. First I was told that because it's so close to Christmas, I wouldn't see it again until nearly the end of January. It tells you in the small print at repair time (at least here in the UK) that you should allow 4 weeks to get it back, so it seems that 6 weeks is actually the norm at this time of year.

I love the damn thing so much that I've decided to buy another one while the current one is in for repair, and I'll sell the repaired one when it gets back (or maybe give it away on the forums, not sure yet )

I decided it was down to either an Arcade and I'd use my current HDD (which doesn't need to be sent back with the console), or an Elite and I'd use the data transfer cable to migrate. I chose the Elite (getting it this weekend). In preparation, I decided to call Xbox Support up and explain the situation, tell them I'm getting the Elite shortly and can they send a cable out in advance so I can migrate on day one with the new console.

In short, after some wrangling, they've said no. It's because I've got an open repair on one of the consoles, which stops them opening another support claim until that's closed down. It's just a damn £5 cable and a CD, why they can't send it out when I'm spending £300 on a new console is beyond me I guess. So I'm having to hit eBay for that, since the only other way to get it is to buy the 120GB HDD upgrade kit.

Then comes the revelation this morning that nobody will come and collect the console that needs fixed, I have to drive it to my local UPS depot. At least they're providing a box. Grrr.

In short, it really sucks as an experience to get one repaired by Microsoft. My current unit is _just_ outside the 1 year period where my local retailer would have taken it back and replaced it for me, too

 

[Arwin]

If mine dies, I don't think I'll get another one the way things are right now.

 

[sevanig]

Australian launch one for me, no problems. once in a blue moon it gets RROD but I just turn it off and on... but been playing it less since getting the Ps3 + I have been banned from xbox live, but i have free PSN so no biggie...

 

[Arwin]

How did you get banned from Live?

 

[AzBat]

In short, after some wrangling, they've said no. It's because I've got an open repair on one of the consoles, which stops them opening another support claim until that's closed down. It's just a damn £5 cable and a CD, why they can't send it out when I'm spending £300 on a new console is beyond me I guess. So I'm having to hit eBay for that, since the only other way to get it is to buy the 120GB HDD upgrade kit.

Not sure if you've tried this, but at least it would be free...

http://www.xbox.com/NR/rdonlyres/B4.../MigrationorderformincludingEuropewithfax.pdf

Tommy McClain

 

[Shifty Geezer]

How did you get banned from Live?

He probably can't answer that without incriminating himself

 

[tcrews]

I've bought 4 360s. 1 at launch, 1 a year later for a friend, 1 spring '07 and 1 in summer '07 (first 2 were Premiums, second 2 were Elites). Of the above, only one failed and that was the launch console....and it didn't fail until a month after I added the HD DVD addon and had it sitting on top of it (replaced under warrant with Best Buy). They all get used constantly, I have the two elites at home (each with their own Gold LIVE gamertag) and the one I gave to a friend and the one I sold to another are all running and get used quite a bit.

Personally I have no fear of buying a 360, and with the 3 year warranty for RROD it makes it even less of an issue. One of my friends got the RROD and from calling for a repair, getting the shipping box, shipping it off.....all the way to getting it back was 10 (working) days. And he got his original (repaired) back as he matched the serial numbers.

 

[pipo]

Launch unit. Still going strong. No scratching either...

 

[PARANOiA]

If mine dies, I don't think I'll get another one the way things are right now.

That makes sense since you don't play any games on your 360

http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=ArwinGT4

Last played game was the pinball demo on a month ago, and you didn't even make car level 5 or driver level 10 in Forza It would be silly of you to replace your very expensive paperweight.

 

[AlphaWolf]

That makes sense since you don't play any games on your 360

http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=ArwinGT4

Last played game was the pinball demo on a month ago, and you didn't even make car level 5 or driver level 10 in Forza It would be silly of you to replace your very expensive paperweight.

on the upside, I think its unlikely it will ever die with that kind of play.

 

[AlNom]

That presumes he keeps his 360 hooked up to the internet

 

[Fu3lFr3nzy]

I still don't know anyone in my personal circle that has ever had disc scratching and I have never had it.

Same here. I certainly accept that theres units out there that has those problems, but between myself and the people I know that own one, hasnt happened yet *knocks on wood*

 

[PARANOiA]

on the upside, I think its unlikely it will ever die with that kind of play.

You'd be surprised what the 360 can do I'm on #3, though I do tend to use mine a little more than most.

That presumes he keeps his 360 hooked up to the internet

The gamercard also notes Orange Box demo was downloaded last week. There are no secrets on Live

 

[kyleb]

My second 360 ate Gears disks. Two Gears disks, both with small divots circling the disk. All other games I played stayed pristine, and the Gears disks have since been buffed and are surviving fine in other consoles as well. Apparently, something about how Gears does it's streaming from the disk simply didn't agree with the drive in that particular 360.