I got my first PSP in 2006, because I wanted to try out homebrew software on it.
Sadly, when I got it, it was at too high of a firmware to downgrade, and was also a TA-082 motherboard.
Eventually, while trying to update it to 3.0 to use with a friend's PS3 (an official update), it got bricked.
The battery was at 100%, plugged into the wall, everything was fine. Never had run homebrew on it.
It got bricked.
That's lame.
Sony wouldn't cover the bricking in their warranty, so I had to wait until May this year to take it to FutureShop (a Canadian retailer owned by BestBuy) and have them repair it since I had gotten a 3 year extended warranty.
They said that it would take 6 to 8 weeks to repair, and that if I didn't pick it up immediately afterwards, they'd throw it out.
Didn't get a call from them by August, so I decided to call them. They told me it was fixed, and to come pick it up.
It wasn't, they couldn't fix it. They offered me a replacement. I said sure, no problem. I got my new PSP a few days ago, and then proceeded to downgrade it to 1.50, and install the M33 3.52-4 CFW on it. I've now got all of my UMDs backed up to slimmed-down CSOs, I'm running a few emulators (mostly ROMs of old games I own... though there are a few..

), and I've got some other homebrew on it.
I love it. It's what I always wanted my PSP to be when I bought it.
Now with a spare battery coming in the mail, I plan on making a Pandora's Battery just in case I ever some how re-brick it beyond repair. (M33's recovery menu rocks.)