As Title really , looking at some new 08 marzocchis
I know they have had a bad year recently , but which year
xc 700 ata to be precise
any good ?

Not the best, but still some excellent forks out there. If they are new/from a shop and cheap i'd go for it.

I think the xc700 forks were among the worst hit for problems in '08, along with 55s and others. Personally I would steer well clear even if the price is amazing.

Bad-ish, especially for XC700 ata and other models with loads of fancy adjustments, basic models were fine 🙂 The silver coating on uppers flaking, dropping on travel due to some problems with the dual air chamber spring. Look for some reviews on the internet, You'll find some pics as well. They are very very cheap now at Jenson but it's for a reason 🙂 However some are sound and my 2007 XC500 apart from minimal play on bushings form new wasn't that bad and just kept on working. Might be just a bit hit and miss, You might be lucky and get a sound example 😉

2010 44's I got for my mate work fine and seem very solid, but on the heavy side + 3 year warranty as a bonus.

What miesko said If I recall correctly .R and ETA versions were fine, but ata (and perhaps TST?) versions were the problematic ones in 2008 (and 2007 xc700s). I think marzocchi were changing the internals to 2009 ones once you broke the 2008 internals under warranty though?