Moving an Xbox 360 cross-country

Smug Duckling

So I'm moving to California (from Ontario) for 4 months in a couple of weeks, and I want to take my Xbox 360 with me. I'm wondering if anyone has experience with this and knows a good way to do this. Should I take it on the plane with me (I'm not sure I'd trust checked baggage, so it would have to be carry on), or should I mail it? It seems like it might be rather expensive to do the latter, especially since it's cross-border.

Anyone have any good advice or experience with doing this?

It seems like taking it on the plane would be the most logical course of action, but it's pretty large and I'll have quite a bit of other luggage to take with me.

Evil_Reaver

I got my 360 for Christmas two years ago. At the time, I was living in Los Angeles and my folks are in Oklahoma. When it was time to go home, I took my 360, box and all, on the plane as a carry-on and no one even batted an eye at what I was doing. TSA (or the Canadian equivalent) will run it through the x-ray machine and that's really all there is to it.

Your 360 is just a computer, so there's nothing wrong with taking it as a carry on.

As a side note, why are you moving to California? Don't you know it's on fire right now?

Smug Duckling

Evil_Reaver wrote: »

I got my 360 for Christmas two years ago. At the time, I was living in Los Angeles and my folks are in Oklahoma. When it was time to go home, I took my 360, box and all, on the plane as a carry-on and no one even batted an eye at what I was doing. TSA (or the Canadian equivalent) will run it through the x-ray machine and that's really all there is to it.

Your 360 is just a computer, so there's nothing wrong with taking it as a carry on.

As a side note, why are you moving to California? Don't you know it's on fire right now?

Winter internship in the San Fran area.

Not planning to stay permanently, although it will be nice to get out of Canada for the winter. :P

Sounds good. I'll probably be doing that then.

VThornheart

Carry-on will work, or you can mail it if you wish. I mailed mine across the country when I moved recently. Shipped it through USPS, got 350$ of insurance on it, and basically put it back in its retail box, wrapped that in about 3 layers of the small bubble bubble wrap, and put it in a sturdy box, taping it securely.

It came over fine. Hopefully this helps to know!

Fireflash

You will have minor problems with your 360 when switching countries. My friend did the opposite. He bought his 360 in the states while he was working in LA and now he's back in Montreal.

I'm not sure of all the detaisl but because his machine/account is from the USA he couldn't use a canadian credit card to buy MS points. He also tried a point card bought from a store here and it didn't work either. He had to purchase american point cards on ebay.

Smug Duckling

Fireflash wrote: »

You will have minor problems with your 360 when switching countries. My friend did the opposite. He bought his 360 in the states while he was working in LA and now he's back in Montreal.

I'm not sure of all the detaisl but because his machine/account is from the USA he couldn't use a canadian credit card to buy MS points. He also tried a point card bought from a store here and it didn't work either. He had to purchase american point cards on ebay.

That's good to know, but I'm gone for a short enough time that I'll probably just continue using my Canadian credit-card for Live purchases.

CrystalMethodist

Ship it. I put mine in a box with hella packing peanuts and foam and shipped it from NYC to SF. Everything went smoothly (insure it for a few extra bucks) and I didn't have to deal with carrying it on.

wasted pixels

Postes Canada is going to ding you for about $50 to ship a package that size and weight, fully insured -- which isn't too bad at all.

And yeah, just remember to buy your points and Live subscriptions directly through the dashboard and you'll be fine as far as regional compatibility. I had no trouble using my Live account in both the US and Canada, and I also had no issues setting up a Zune account here in Canada by using my American debit card -- Microsoft only seems to care about where the money comes from, not where the stuff is used.

Luck3ySe7en

i moved like 10 times when i joined the military so i always packed my 360 in my luggage. I layed down a firm layer of shirts and pants then i put the box in the center then i wrapped it in foam casing and socks then i just arranged the rest of my clothes around it. Still playing strong 3 years later :P

Casual

Put it in the box and carry it with you, you'd be mad to trust such a fragile thing to a baggage handler. Also it goes without saying that you really shouldn't move it with a disk in the drive.

Black Ice

No one else has mentioned this, but I hear it's bad for items like computers and video game systems to be moved when there is a CD in them, even if the power is off/the disc is not in use, so make sure you don't have a game inside of the 360.

VThornheart

Good point Black Ice, I believe that's true. Definitely double-check before you ship.