I have my launch 360 and it's still going strong. The 360 is known to have a higher than normal failure rate because the early models did have a design flaw. This has now been rectified and the failure rate is probably in line with other consoles. The PS2 had problems after it was released as well. I tried two of those but they both scratched dvds and I gave up on it.

The problem with surveys about failure rates is you are more likely to get people with problems responding. Also fanboys try to screw the numbers - for example, that game site which allowed users to rate games; flagship games on PS3 and 360 were being marked down before they were even released.

MS really need to sort this out. I mean this is the PRIMARY reason i dislike my 360 at times. Why it has taken MS 4 yrs to fix such a basic hardware issue is beyond me.. MS really need to up the quality. STOP cutting prices.. give us better quality hardware! Someone mentioned a 3 yrs warranty. thats great but i STILL play my atari 2600, sega saturn, neo geo and dreamcast. I cant say the same bout my xbox 360 5 yrs from now!

Damn! Well, that's what I get for running my mouth apparently. Anyways, I don't hate the 360 because I still haven't had a problem. If I do I will definitely let people know. But I won't be too ticked off, I can just use the other one if one breaks down.

It's tough to put a number on the failure rate since the hardware has improved so much over the past four years. It's reasonable to assume that all launch consoles will eventually fail but the newer ones seem to fall into the more reasonable less than 10%. Hopefully someday someone will distinguish between each type of 360 console and get some real numbers.

I find the custimer service part a little strange, turn around time on my 360 was under 2 weeks from start to finish, and the customer service rep was always polite.

they must be millionaire.

This.

I almost bought a xbox 360 when gears of war 2 came out, but it's the thought of almost inevitable RROD ticked me off. I wouldn't mind owning a xbox 360 if its more reliable, 3 months free subscription < send the console at my own expense (?) and wait for days unable to play it, imo.

This entire red ring of death thing just makes me sick. Consumers who have continued to reward such a shoddy product with continued sales should be ashamed. Microsoft puts out so many products (software and hardware) that are so extremely flawed that I can't believe that they didn't go out of business years ago. I believe that so many people defend Microsoft because it's an American company and we as Americans are always told to "buy American". If this exact same situation were to happen to a foreign company such as Sony or Nintendo, people would be making a lot bigger deal out of it. I don't care how good you think the software is. Reliable hardware on which to play the software should trump all.

I feel terrible...as I have not (knock on wood) had a RROD, and I'm getting my new elite when M$ drops the price.

This is exactly why you'll have a hard time convincing me that 360's sales numbers aren't overly inflated.  How many people have actually bought more than 1 system due to being out of warranty, etc. rather than having the same one repaired?

I felt the same way.  The RROD is the lone thing that has kept me from owning a 360.  I'd love to play many of the exclusives, but working in quality assurance myself, I refuse to reward poor quality control with my consumer dollars.  My company has a return rate of less than 1/10 of 1% for our products.