I can't speak for the current model but my 05 Sport has been very good to me with only a few issues. That said the rear derailleur of my 05 was absolute trash (Acera). It flopped around and ghost-shifted, didn't keep enough tension on the chain so it would skip under heavy load. Recently upgraded it to an XT Shadow and it's worlds better. The front shock (Gila RST) is extremely bouncy if you set the pre-load high and nose-dives more than I'm really comfortable with if set low. I eventually got used to it and having it low and diving is more manageable than the loss of traction and steering control of the bouncing. I've never been able to find a comfortable middle ground as in the middle it still nose-dives pretty hard but then it bounces back up forcefully. I look forward to the day that I can afford a bike with a better fork (upgrading just the fork is cost prohibitive when the cost of a fork is 50-60% of cost of a whole bike with that fork sometimes). I am very happy with my Hardrock though and I'm falling in love with mountain biking more every time I go out. My recommendation from admittedly limited experience- buy the one with the best fork you can afford.