Pi longevity?

[ivwshane]

I've got a raspberry pi2 in a bartop that gets daily use. I'm using the gpio for the two player six button setup and one gpio header has gone dead. Now it appears more have gone bad (I haven't had a chance to confirm it yet). Before buying another pi I would like to see what everyone's experience is in terms of longevity and I'm especially interested in those that are using the gpio pins.

So... How long has your pi been in use?
What pi are you using?
Are you using the gpio for your controls?
How much use does it get?

[JDFan]

Could always just get a USB encoder for the buttons instead of using the GPIO - figure the Zero delay encoders are less than $10 and might get you a few more years of use out of the pi2. 

[ivwshane]

I was looking at the xen mo but is there a particular zero delay encoder you recommend. The xen mo's are $20 for a 2 player setup.

[UEDan]

Pi2s are cheap. I think Microcenter frequently sold Pi2s for about $20. Buy a few and swap the SDCARD and pins. Done.

Back to your original question, I have Pi2 Model B I think. The last ARM CPU model. It's been my 24/7 torrent server with no air circulation for almost... 2 years? No GPIO pins.

[nitrogen_widget]

The pi2 outside under my hot tub controlling the filter, light, and temperature inside a Tupperware container has been going strong for almost 2yrs and i'm switching 110v Solid state opto-isolated relays with the GPIO,

Sometimes electronics crap out.

[ivwshane]

Well I got the xin mo and its working fine so hopefully this type of setup lasts longer. The other big advantage is that I can upgrade the pi more easily since the xin mo plugs in via USB which also means that if I ever want to I could go with a full blown PC and switching it over would be a matter of plugging in a USB cable.