I'd definitely wait to see if there anything to all this rumor of an M9. If a new camera comes out, I would expect that to push a few more M8s onto the used market as the inevitable trading-up begins.
Personally, I've had 3 M8s. One of them I sold before using. IIt was sent to me by leica to replace my first camera, which was almost useless.
The first one would just die for no reason. It didn't happen a lot. But really, that doesn't have to happen very many times to be too many.
I ended up getting a third M8 a few months after selling my unused replacement model. So far, it has been fairly reliable. Every once in a while, it'll freeze up - but so far that's been cured by pulling the battery out and popping it back in.
Other than that, I love the camera. Produces fantastic images. I just wish I had more faith in its reliability.
Of course, the problem with asking your question here is that you'll just get a bunch of anecdotal stories of love or hate or (as is my case) a combination of the two.
In the end, you'll never get a satisfactory answer to the question of the camera's reliability. Only Leica knows the failure rate, etc. and the company certainly isn't going to let that informmation out. No company would.
If you like the images you've seen from the camera and feel like spending the money on one, then do it.
