Matt_

I was weighing whether it'd be a mistake to buy a refurbished xbox system. Gamestop appears to be selling them for around $ 50, and Hollywood Video's Game Crazy has a special right now where for $ 60 you get a refurbished system and three used games.

I'm aware that a large percentage of the library of xbox games will run on an xbox 360. But after spending a considerable amount of time on various xbox 360 forums, I'm feeling increasingly uncomfortable spending $ 299 for a 360 system (even a jasper model) that has a shockingly huge and long-standing problem with RROD failure and hard drive failure. This weekend on numerous forums I read so many reports of people on their 3rd, 4th, and 5th 360 ... and each one seemed to die after about a year or year and a half.

My only hesitation with getting a refurbished xbox system is whether I'd wind up with a system that was treated like garbage by its previous owner. So I was wondering if this system was built well enough that even if I wind up with a refurbished xbox that was abused by its previous owner that it will still work well enough to last me for a few years.

neiname

Check craigslist as you will get a system plus more games for less than $40-50 bucks and lower if you are patient. They are built liek tanks so you should have no problem and check gamestop for software as they will more thn likely be clearancing it out soon as they stopped taking in xbox games.

http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/ele/1108218225.html NOT BAD

http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/ele/1107135632.html

http://boston.craigslist.org/nos/ele/1110237176.html

http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/tag/1110071768.html

Matt_

Thank you! I really appreciate the advice. One thing about the craigslist suggestions .. is craiglist like ebay in the sense that someone in one part of the country can buy what someone is selling on craiglist in another part of the country ?

Also, a lot of the games that I want were released on both the xbox and the PS2. I posted a question today about that. If you have any advice, I'd like to hear your input
htt p://forum.dvdtalk.com/video-game-talk/553065-when-title-xbox-ps2-xbox-version-always-better.html

I was browsing an xbox forum this morning, and do you think I'd have much to worry about with regards to a refurbished xbox suffering from one of these problems ?
- failed fan,
- dirty optical drive lens,
- dead power supply fuse need to be replaced, or
- damage from the previous owner botching trying to install a mod chip
- trace corrosion problem on some motherboards
htt p://forums.llamma.com/viewtopic.php?t=12329

RichC2

Craigslist is nothing like eBay, it's local postings for people to barter/sell items. It's basically an online version of your local newspaper classified ads. I'm sure you can contact the people posting in other regions and work out a deal for shipment if necessary.

My xbox was built like a rock and still works swimmingly 8 years later despite having taken it apart numerous times and tinkering with the insides.

orangecrush

Craigslist is generally more local pickup/selling. There is a risk of all the problems you mentioned no matter which way you go (used or refurbished). At $50, I wouldn't worry too much about possible breaking hardware (just buy 2 if it worries you a lot).

Matt_

Thank you both I have a bit of a worrywort personality that I have a hard time keeping in check sometimes. If a used or refurbished xbox wound up working for several years, that'd be awesome. But I was also thinking that it'd be great if it at least lasted till the next revision [Valhalla] of xbox 360 comes out next year -- htt p://digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=901401

I don't know if this is true, but I read a comment this morning that made me hopeful that I'd have an experience like RichC2's of a used xbox lasting for a long time:
"Failure rate of most hard drives these days is up in the once in a hundred years territory, you can check on the manufacturers websites; whereas DVD-ROM drives and discs (especially) are less so."

DJariya

I'm just curious, since the Xbox has been discontinued and no new games are being produced for it, are you basically looking for a cheap system and a few cheap games? So do you really care about getting new games or is your intent to get a $40-50 system and pick up a bunch of $5 to $10 Used copies on Ebay or Gamestop?

I used to have an Xbox, but eventually upgraded to the 360 3 years ago and have pretty much had no troubles with it except 1 bad hard drive, which I replaced. Other than that, Xbox Live works great, the new games are cool and I have kept a few of my older XBox games that are backwards compatible.

Matt_

Well, I'm weighing the pros and cons of a new PS2 versus a used xbox. I'm not sure which would be more reliable. Most of the game titles I'm interested in are available on both the PS2 and the xbox. But what's shaking my confidence on the PS2 is the multitude of reports on DREs (disc read errors) .. then people resort to either throwing out the PS2, trying to clean the laser, or trying to replace the laser. The life span of the PS2 seem to be around 5 to 7 years, but when the system quits then are you stuck with a library of titles that won't work on anything ?

The fact that the xbox 360 will play such a large portion of the xbox library appeals to me, but the RROD reports and the reports of lots of units with failing disc drives have scared me off of investing $ 300 to $ 400 in the system. There's the latest revision of the 360 the jasper. But with that having just come out, I thought, well maybe I should buy a used xbox to hold me over for awhile till either the 360 price comes down or I see that the jasper revision is turning out to be reliable.

sniper308

Don't sweat the RROD issue... pick up a 360 and don't look back. There's a 3 year RROD warranty.

Check out Dell.com for some deals on 360's... watch fatwallet for deals as well...

taffer

The PS2 DRE issue, unlike the 360 RROD issue, was successfully fixed. Only the PS2's produced in the first couple years suffer from the DRE problem, so as long as you don't get one of those you would be fine.

The newer slim PS2 is the best bet. I have never heard any problems with them at all.