How well do used Wiis hold up?

[Jorpho]

I'd still like to spend some more time with a Wii one of these days. Is a used Wii a good idea? Do they hold up well enough that a used console is still likely to provide years of healthy operation?

[Robocop2]

I would wager that provided it was reasonably well taken care of that it would. Most of Nintendo's consoles seem to have excellent durability overall

[Trebuken]

My Wii, a launch model, has some issues. Vertical lines are displayed across the screen. More noticeable on an HD screen than a CRT, at annoying much of the time. =I believe it was a heat issue particular to launch models. I do not know if there is a way to distinguish launch models from later models though.

[Richter Belmount]

I think they have blues pills for that kind of shit especially for the older ones.

[The 1 2 P]

Double post.

[The 1 2 P]

While I'd take a guess that original Wii's hold out much longer than original 360's and PS3's, I'm not sure how long the average used one would last. But the fact that I haven't heard many problems about them(besides people accidentally flinging their Wiimotes out of their hands and into random objects) leads me to believe that might be pretty reliable as a used system.

[WCP]

Modern consoles are a ridiculous crap shoot right now, in terms of buying a random used one. Wii's are a less complicated device, but I've heard lots of problems with the laser that reads the Wii disks (more with Wii's from 2007 and 2008). Sometimes you can get a special Wii Cleaning Kit and clean the laser, and sometimes you need to get the laser replaced/repaired.

Every Xbox 360 is a walking time bomb, and PS3's are kinda sketch as well. With the 360 and PS3, the biggest problem is the fact that they are basically computers, yet people want to turn them off and on like they are a Nintendo 64. People don't realize that a 360 is a computer confined inside a really small shell. Same thing with the PS3. Their GPU's run extremely hot, and if dump people lay them on carpets or whatever, they are just asking for trouble, but it's amazing what the common Joe Sixpack does with his console.

It's kinda like used cars. The seller is more important. You buy a used car from an elderly gay man, and I hate to stereotype, but they are likely to be very meticulous about taking care of stuff, and making sure they get the oil changed like clockwork. You buy it from Vinny the plumber, with 5 kids inside his dirty station wagon, all looking at you like... "Will you feed me mister?", and it's a whole nuther ball of wax. Again, all stereotyping aside....

It's a crapshoot.

[Aussie2B]

Some of the early models had problems with overheating, but if you're really worried about it, just don't leave it online when not in use. Make sure the light turns red or just unplug it. Or to simplify things, you can mess with the system options to turn off the yellow light standby mode.

[Oobgarm]

Launch model and no issues. Granted I don't use it much, but it's been toted around to many places and plugged/unplugged tons of times and it still runs like new.

[cynicalhat]

I've never seen a wii that didn't work in my experience. I would suspect they are pretty reliable. Having said that, I would still open the unit up, clear out all the dust. I usually open up the disc drive enclosure and clean the lens and check the lubricant on the drive rails and gearing and apply new lube if needed. Also be sure to clean the little fan real well and see if it makes noise and needs replacing. I do this with any system I aqcuire regardless of manufacturer. You never know who had nasty bugs in their house, and since its open, you might as well clean it since you are there.

[cynicalhat]

The best maintenance is preventative.

[Gamingking]

I bought my Wii new years ago, Few months after it was released since it was so hard to find. I haven't had any problems with it at all.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Modern consoles are a ridiculous crap shoot right now, in terms of buying a random used one. Wii's are a less complicated device, but I've heard lots of problems with the laser that reads the Wii disks (more with Wii's from 2007 and 2008). Sometimes you can get a special Wii Cleaning Kit and clean the laser, and sometimes you need to get the laser replaced/repaired.

Every Xbox 360 is a walking time bomb, and PS3's are kinda sketch as well. With the 360 and PS3, the biggest problem is the fact that they are basically computers, yet people want to turn them off and on like they are a Nintendo 64. People don't realize that a 360 is a computer confined inside a really small shell. Same thing with the PS3. Their GPU's run extremely hot, and if dump people lay them on carpets or whatever, they are just asking for trouble, but it's amazing what the common Joe Sixpack does with his console.

It's kinda like used cars. The seller is more important. You buy a used car from an elderly gay man, and I hate to stereotype, but they are likely to be very meticulous about taking care of stuff, and making sure they get the oil changed like clockwork. You buy it from Vinny the plumber, with 5 kids inside his dirty station wagon, all looking at you like... "Will you feed me mister?", and it's a whole nuther ball of wax. Again, all stereotyping aside....

It's a crapshoot.

This.

Even though I agree that the Wii is a reliable bit of hardware, modern gaming hardware is too delicate and you really never know what goes on behind closed doors.

There was some talk in another thread a few weeks back about buying a used slim PS3 as long as it was only a few months old ... but what's to say that for that month the previous owner didn't stick the thing in a completely closed entertainment center, fire up Netflix before bed watch a movie and then fall asleep with the console on, cooking away in it's entertainment center hot-box. How do you know that the previous owner didn't do that every night for a few weeks straight? Is it really worth saving $50 if the potential long-term damage to the hardware is unknown?

With all three current consoles providing their lowest price points to date on new hardware, and in the case of 360 and PS3 hardware revisions that are beneficial to the longevity/functionality of the hardware, I'm not quite sure that I'd ever buy used unless the price was free or well below half of what I'd pay new (and even in that case I'd be hard pressed to bring myself to do it).

Though, I know that for the most part a lot of the above alarmist/cautionary stuff is just my OCD.

Ultimately there's no shame in buying used or wanting to save a few bucks ... I just can't bring myself to recommend it over buying new at this point considering the price/hardware revision stuff I mentioned above.

[Rob2600]

My brother has a launch Wii (2006), works fine. I have a Wii from 2007, works fine. My brother-in-law has a Wii from 2009, works fine. Keep in mind, we don't abuse our gadgets.

[RCM]

I purchased my Wii in mid-2007 and don't have any issues with it. But at the same time, I've barely played it. It's like an old lady's car: it may be old, but the mileage is surprisingly low.

[HappehLemons]

I've gone thru 3 Wiis in this house. My brothers Wii was a launch model, that suffered from dead pixels, and I mean a lot of them (From what I research this is a pretty common problem with the video card inside Wiis).

Second one was one I got was later in the Wii life cycle (it was the 4th hardware revision) and it JUST started having the same dead pixel problem.

Third one was the a new one my brother got (he sent his wii back to nintendo and they sent him a new one) and it's not having any problems at the moment.

Seriously though, modern systems are garbage. I've gone thru 5 Xbox360s and 3 Wiis in this house and. I always keep them in a well ventilated area and wouldn't even say I play them that much..

[mike_the_red]

I've gone thru 3 Wiis in this house. My brothers Wii was a launch model, that suffered from dead pixels, and I mean a lot of them (From what I research this is a pretty common problem with the video card inside Wiis).

Second one was one I got was later in the Wii life cycle (it was the 4th hardware revision) and it JUST started having the same dead pixel problem.

Third one was the a new one my brother got (he sent his wii back to nintendo and they sent him a new one) and it's not having any problems at the moment.

Seriously though, modern systems are garbage. I've gone thru 5 Xbox360s and 3 Wiis in this house and. I always keep them in a well ventilated area and wouldn't even say I play them that much..

While I believe there may have been a graphics card problem with your Wii, I'm not sure I understand what you mean when you say "dead pixels".

The Wii doesn't have any control over individual pixels. That's a function of your monitor or possibly its interface medium.

A Wii can no better produce random dead pixels than a light bulb can produce random spots of darkness.

[Robocop2]

I purchased my Wii in mid-2007 and don't have any issues with it. But at the same time, I've barely played it. It's like an old lady's car: it may be old, but the mileage is surprisingly low.

That pretty much describes my Wii as well.

[dystopian]

I worked at EB Games for a while (hold the boos! please!) and very, very, very rarely ever saw a Wii come back. I have a 360 (love it) and a used Wii I purchased for $99 to softmod. Came running 3.4U (not sure how to tell when the unit was manufactured) and has worked like a charm the entire time.

If you ask me, Nintendo usually makes the most durable product.

[MeTmKnice]

i have a launch wii console. works amazing to this day. only time it freezes (on rare occasions at that) is only on occasion when i am running a game off an ext drive. i thnk its more the drives fault than anything.
I would say especially with a good seller you wont have problems.
I also have a launch 60 gb ps3. no issues.