said by dadkins:My SB5100 has ran without an issue for 5+ years.
I paid $59.99(after rebate) for it.
I did the same thing when I bought my SB5100 in 2003. At $60 the break-even point is 20 months - pretty safe risk considering the modems come with a 1 year warranty (8 months of "exposure").
Due to the extra tuners, the D3 modems are unlikely to drop below $100 anytime soon. Let's say they do hit the store at $150 somehow, that's still 50 months (just over 4 years) just to break even and I believe the modems still only have the same 1 year warranty. So, if the modem kacks then your cost model is completely hosed.
Personally, I still am not optimistic that the first generation of multi-tuner cable modems is going to show the same level of reliability as our 5th generation single-tuner SB5100s.