Jeez guys, this is starting to sound like that ridiculous justhelicopters.com site......this is crap, that’s crap......I thought this one had a little more substance.
I have spent the lion's share of 7000 hrs at the top of an 'OGE hover at near MAUW' with GEs, Pratts, Turbomecas, Lycomings, and Allisons spinning behind me or overhead in various forms, and have seen them all go for ****. I have seen 206Bs with 20,000 hrs which have never experienced an engine problem, and a brand new 350BA (<300hrs TT) spit the engine out the back. In the vast majority of cases, the cause can be traced to poor operational habits, or substandard maintenance or overhaul practices. Of course there are exceptions.... early LTS-101s for example, early C-28s, even the beloved Arriel has seen some untimely spur gear failures which have been going on for quite some time (first one I saw was 93, and it's still happening today re: LA police).
Point is, rarely does a properly operated, maintained or overhauled engine fail. When they do, it's usually a 'one-of', and not a fundamental design flaw.
Stevie, as you said, the 1 minute 'warm-up' period is indeed that, a period to reduce thermal stress on the engine before running it up, and not a generator or battery limitation as is sometimes believed. Most other manufacturers have some form of restriction on this as well.
For widgeon: The C-47 seems to be holding up very well, as is its brother, the C40 in the B430. The C-47 experienced some early FADEC issues which were traced to a wiring harness vendor. Otherwise the first six years has been remarkably good, with most overhauls resulting in only minor repair work.