I currently own an 8 GB (e280) version of the Sansa portable music players. I bought my first 4 GB unit about 18 months ago. Overall, I really like the device (small, light, decent GUI, priced right), but I have to say that if I hadn't bought the $29 extended warranty from Best Buy, I wouldn't be a happy person.
About two months after I bought the first 4 GB unit, the screen had a series of diagonal lines across it and the device was locked up. I took it back to Best Buy and they happily replaced it under the extended warranty. This happened four more times over the following 8 months (sometimes the device just wouldn't power up anymore).
When I returned it the last time, the 4 GB model had been discontinued so they gave me a full refund of the original purchase price. I didn't feel like driving around town shopping for another player so I checked out what they had for the same price (about $249). The 8 GB model was there, and they had some iPod Nanos for a few bucks more. I decided to stick with the Sansa if I could buy another extended warranty, but I couldn't help but think "Surely they've fixed the quality problems by now." Six weeks later, it died. That was in January 2007 and I've had two more e280s die since then.
You may be asking "what the heck are you doing to these things?" I'm not rough with it, I keep it in a neoprene case, it doesn't get wet, etc. I take pretty good care of the players, so it must come down to poor manufacturing quality.
All in all, I would recommend buying one, but only if you buy a "no questions asked" extended warranty and you don't mind driving back to Best Buy/Circuit City every 6 weeks or so to exchange it
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