First off, for those who like to read magazine articles:
http://www.shootingtimes.com/handgun_reviews/hipoint_100605/
Second:
I own a hi-point .40S&W. It was the first gun I bought and the price tag actually helped. Living in the neighborhood I was in at the time warranted a firearm I felt, and it was what I could afford. I like the saying: "The firearm you have now is better than the one you get later"
While, yes, they are a cheaper firearm (price wise), they are still solid, reliable, and relatively accurate (even if I'm not

). I have put about 5-600 rounds through it and haven't encountered a problem yet (on a sidenote, I haven't cleaned it yet either...)
Now, I do know that a few adjustments might be necessary on a few of their guns (always the feed lips on their magazines), I have never seen any other hi-point owner run into any serious problems. I have also never seen any confirmed reports of a KB or other catastrophic failures.
By the way, ever notice it's always a friend of a friend of a friend who heard about the KB's?
Finally, the lifetime unconditional warranty is a high point (...sorry) for the gun as well. No matter how many owners it's had, no matter how many times you've sent it, no matter what's wrong, they'll keep taking it, fixing it, and send it back (with an extra magazine to offset the cost of shipping).
So, I haven't found a single reason to hate on hi-point yet... ok, ONE THING. These guns are uglier than sin. They full out of the ugly tree, hit every branch, then proceeded to get be hit with a brick for a week afterward. I feel like I should put it in my black and decker cordless drill case instead of a gun case.
p.s. I'm actually trying to figure out how long it'll take of not cleaning for it to experience a failure. It'll either fail, or I'll each 1K rounds... which do you think will be first?