I bought two Nexus 7's when they first came out and they both stopped working within a week or two of each other, about 14 months after purchase. Not too happy with that.
To replace them I bought myself a Lenovo 8" (5500 model) and my son a Samsung, both of which are going strong a couple of years later.
The Lenovo was much cheaper than the Samsung or the Nexus but has been great. I use it constantly and have taken it on a couple of tours where it's lived in a large sandwich bag in my panniers. My son's happy with the Samsung but doesn't seem to use it half as much as I use the Lenovo.