I've had mine for a little over a year. It lives on a covered deck year round. The only paint issues that I have had, is on the lower half of the front. Grease has dripped down, and caused the paint to peel off. Not even bad enough, that I have brought myself to repaint yet. Yoder sells paint, to repair any problems, and my ys640 came with a free can.. I am guessing if I took a couple of hours of sanding, cleaning, and painting, it would look like new. I have read a lot about paint issues, but having had one for a year, I would not let it deter me from buying one. If I had bought an offset, I guarantee the fire box would need to be repainted by now, and fixing the issues on my ys640, would be a lot less work.
In the end, it is your decision to make, and I would probably give it more thought, if I lived near the ocean, but I think if you take care of it, and understand that you might have to do a little maintenance once in a while, you should be fine.