Ive had both my Elite controllers since the day they released and I have not developed drift on either. The rubber grips peeled off the V1 I had only a few days before the V2 came out, but I just got replacement grips for it. I dont use my V1 much anymore, but my V2 gets really heavy use and its still fine. I am either the luckiest person on the planet, or the issues aren't as widespread as people make them out to be, and its just the people with the problem posting about it (as the people with no problems rarely post and generally have no need to).

HE sensors are nice but they are more expensive and are not immune to developing drift. Over time, the ferro-magnetic material used in the sensors can lose or change their polarity, which can cause very bad effects ranging simply from inaccuracy to inversion. Also, HE sensors are much more susceptible to temperature, and may underperform in areas of high or low heat.

While generally I might assume HE sensors would be better for a joystick, Microsoft has spent a lot of time and money on the R&D of their controllers. If they decide to use HE sensors in their next controller, then they feel the potential downsides are minimized enough or the performance to cost ratio is better. If they don't, then HE sensors aren't worth the cost of using them. Manufacturers spend a lot of time and money in R&D making sure the total cost of their product (including potential warranty repairs they have to do for free) is as low as possible. If they felt the stick drift was expensive enough, they would have done something about it. But since they still use the same modules, the total cost must still be lower than using HE sensors.