pinballbulbs.com

I think you can save some money if you figure out a kit yourself. Yes, it takes some time but I did a few pins this way and I know it was a lot cheaper than any kits out there. Plus you can make it the way you want instead of someone else deciding what looks best!

Is there another option besides cointaker? Dude, just buy cointaker, you won't regret it.

I've bought from CoinTaker and PinballBulbs.
Check them both out.

Well, if you're not buying from Cointaker, you are buying from one of a handful of suppliers. Those apparently must be suppliers who sell kits. Buy a kit from them.

Pinballbulbs kits are cool cause they have spotlights and light strips included in the kits.

Non ghosting bulbs are 'usually' required for Stern Sega and DE.

All our kits are priced with no markup from buying all the products individually and every kit is non ghosting. Meaning, if the game needs non ghosting then they come with those and no upgrade needed. All kits are created once we have personally done the game so we dont have every kit yet, but a good selection currently and constantly adding them.

You can check them out at http://pinballbulbs.com/led-kits

Feel free to let us know if you have any questions on the kit offerings

Here is a post I just made in a related thread. I think you are better off putting together your own selection rather than buying a kit. It will save you a lot of money also. I recommend Comet Pinball LEDs as they are the best deal out there. And the product and service is top notch!

From my experience here is what I have come up with regarding some basic ground rules in LED choice and use:

1. I prefer the frosted 1SMD 5050 for almost everything as it gives a nice bright smooth dispersed light for inserts, under plastics for GI, and behind the back glass. Only exception is using Retros when you want that pinpoint of light showing as with an incandescent.

http://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/1smd5050.htm
http://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/1retroled.htm

2. For back glass and under playfield plastics use warm white LEDs behind warm colors such as yellow, orange, and red, and use cool/natural white behind cool colors such as blue, green, and purple. You can use a colored LED for a "special effect" in some areas if desired. Again the frosted 1SMD 5050 works great here.

3. For inserts you can also use the frosted 1SMD 5050 but match the color of the LED to the color of the insert. The only exception is for yellow inserts. Do not use a yellow LED under a yellow insert. Instead use a warm white LED. Yellow LEDs are not bright enough and are only useful behind white inserts.

4. Use different color LEDs under white inserts to give you a more colorful playfield if that is the effect you want.

5. Use colored LEDs under playfield plastics to create a more modern colorful look if that is the effect you want.

6. Use specialty LEDs such as color changers and flex heads for those areas that may need them. Flex heads are good for where you have a sideways mounted bulb under an insert but I have found that the regular frosted 1SMD 5050 LEDs do put out enough sideways light to work just fine also.

http://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/1smdflex.htm

7. Another very useful specialty bulb is the older style "Bullet" LED with a frosted lens. These are great to use if you have a bulb that "peaks" out from under a plastic and shines right in your eyes. This style of LED shines very little light to the sides so it reduces the brightness that hits your eyes. Just use a frosted warm or cool/natural to match the other LEDs in that area.

http://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/1ledbullet.htm

8. Every game is different so feel free to experiment with different color and type combinations. It is always a good idea to purchase a few extras so that you can experiment.

9. The most important rule sometimes is to not follow any rules. If you think it might work give it a try. If you think it won't work give it a try anyways! You will never know what works until you try. It's only a bulb and it can easily be changed out if it doesn't work for you.

So my suggestion to get started is to get a bulk pack of both the warm and cool/natural in the frosted lens style found here:

http://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/1smd5050.htm

The bulk pack pricing of 59 cents is great! These LEDs can be used everywhere and will be a good start. Just remember to use the warm white behind warm colors and the cool/natural white behind cool colors. You then can also pick up various colored LEDs to match your inserts and for any "special effects" you may want to experiment with.

Just remember it's your pin and what looks good to you is what is most important!!

I have to agree I am not a kit guy myself, I use to be but I like my own control. Like I would never use or buy a yellow lamp EVER! why because white looks better under a yellow insert. Also, purple? NOT Pink for me. Again pink pulls of purple better to me under a purple insert. It really preference. I like buying the 99 pack lights and keeping them in one of theses.

$(KGrHqN,!l0E65Rhsgr)BOypI4(ulw~~60_3.JPG

Cheap on e-bay and can move around with me and make my wife happy that the room is still clean. Plus, I keep other stuff in there as well. However, their photoshop skills SUCK. It will come with all the wheels.

Neat cart. Can you post (or PM) the link?

Here you go....

ebay.com link: Mobile 60 Removable BINS BIN RACK Parts Accessories Storage Organizer w Wheels

Those are good points. None of our kits use yellow or orange for under inserts. In fact, we only use them in a kit if they are used in signage above the playfield usually. Just too dim and doesn't pop at all.

http://pinballbulbs.com/installs/insertinstall.html - For anyone interested we have a Tips section towards the bottom of this page. Has insert color recommendations, how to disable the "allow GI dim" in bally/williams games and a fe wmore items. Kinda big so I don't want to copy and paste here to clutter.

You can also use 'pinside' to get your pinside 10% off. And with our kits at an already lower starting price than most competitors, while providing more items, that is just an over the top kicker!

Check Harbor freight locally too. They have carts and bins very similar to that, but maybe they are smal,ler, not 100%.

Cointaker gives a %15 pinside discount (Better than show Price)
They also give great customer service

Just sayin

I guess kits have improved since I bought one about 4yrs ago. But I say, if you like LEDS, picking out your own scheme is half the fun.

I just buy the 100 bulbs for $65 deal on eBay, make my own kits out of single-led bulb colors of 47's & 555's. I have them in both a Laser War and a Jurassic Park, no ghosting issues at all. I guess that ghosting can come from non-fully rectified bulbs. 100 was enough to do the entire playfield GI and underside (places you don't want to have to dismantle to replace bulbs). Backbox is lit with standard bulbs that were pulled from the machine. It is easy enough to just swap an old bulb with another old bulb there, and I have probably about 300+ of them at this point.

I use regular flasher bulbs, I can't justify spending $5 per bulb for something that almost never needs to be replaced. Flashers are almost never turned on, so the lifespan is significantly greater than a standard GI playfield bulb.

ebay.com link: FROSTED PINBAL LED BULBS 44 47 555 styles QTY 100

Ghosting primarily comes from the whitestar games so it isn't every single stern or data east ever. Just all games using a whitestar.

Flashers for $5? That is really high. We got them for about $2 per bulb and they are the multi directional bulbs. http://pinballbulbs.com/flasher

Comet pinball gives you the superior 1 SMD bulb in frosted at 100 bulbs for $59!

http://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/100-pack-smd.htm

Comet pinball give you the 8 SMD flasher OR the 5 SMD tower flasher OR the 8 SMD flex flasher at a regular price of only $1.59 each and even less in bulk packs!

http://www.cometpinball.com/category-s/1820.htm

Watch for their upcoming flasher sale for an even better deal!!

I bought a Cointaker LED kit for my JD, which turned out fine, but I ended up buying a whole bunch of extra bulbs because I didn't like some of their color choices on some inserts. When it came time to upgrade to LEDs on my STTNG, I just made my own list of bulbs I needed & picked out the colors I liked best. Probably ended up costing me more money since I bought all kinds of color choices, but this was much more rewarding experience & the playfield pops just the way I want it. Cointaker makes high quality bulbs & their customer service was outstanding as well, so I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them in the future.

You can look the specific game up on ipdb.org and see the MPU listing.

http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=5219 - family guy. MPU is not stern whitestar so minimal ghosting, if any
http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=4858 - LOTR, whitestar so massive ghosting and can have some flicker issues too

We have added a new 300 pack assortment. All 1 SMD, 2 SMD faceted, and 4 SMD are the same at $.59, when you buy 300 or more in 25 packs!

http://www.cometpinball.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=300-Pack-SMD

Why buy a kit with 100-140 bulbs in it for $200, when you can get 325 for Less?
No issues putting red bulbs with red inserts or Blue with blue, or white with blue...Not hard to do at all!
In fact with many Sterns you can come close to doing 3 Games for the price of One!

We offer 300 LED for $78.00 Thats $.26 cents each!

Our 5mm Retros and 8mm domes, frosted and clear will be in Shortly. These will run $.49, $.45/25 and $.39 for 100.
With free shipping so a great savings over the Ebay link.

I am a do-it -yourself guy when it comes to LED's, but if you want a kit, I'd go with Pinballbulbs.com. Have seen some of the games they have done in person and they really put a lot of thought into making your pin look it's best without being over the top. The inclusion of spotlights and area specific lighting, nice pricing, high quality, fast shipping and the Pinside discount are just extra cherries on top of an already tasty slice of cheesecake.

This

I am interested in an LED kit for my Tron Pro. I am too new to pinball to try to build one myself.

The part I am trying to figure out is that I got the 3rd run. Currently have the Clu translite, but getting ready to install the Chicks translite. All of the kits I've seen seem to have the backbox LEDs built around the original 3D translite. So, what can I do to get backbox LEDs that maximize the look of the Chicks translite?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

What do you mean by this exactly? Tron comes with the single bulb in the backbox. Our kit has no backbox bulbs for example because not needed.

Don't buy a kit. Choose your own LEDs.

Dont forget about Niftyled.com

Our kits can actually save you a lot of time and money. A lot of time on our part was put into making them look great and very unique. A lot more to it then simple bulb replacements and they cost the same, or even less, as I just pointed out in a PM to someone asking about them

Also, don't buy any bulbs for your Tron backbox since it doesn't use bulbs

Go with Cometpinball.com. I am not a huge LED fan but they have made me reconsider. Lot of cool products at great prices and OLDPINGUY is a really good person who is not looking to gouge anyone.

In fairness, If one absolutely does want a kit, James at Pinballbulbs does do a great job!
There is mostly just a price difference, and for all that work, it is fair.
Cointaker as well provides Good Kits and fine service. There are differences between the 2 to consider,
and that is a personal decision.
Nifty LED, and others as well all work hard for ones business, and all vendors do try with great effort to provide good service..which they do, and an assortment of products to chose from.

We are very lucky in this hobby to have such great Vendors and choices for our parts, supplies, and bulbs.
We also benefit from not paying $2.00-$14.00 for an LED that is the same in an auto store or Lowes.

This more is always like a Coke vs Pepsi debate. You can like one, both, or neither...and chose "other"

I will stand by my personal experience that each and every vendor has something valuable to offer that they care about and work hard to bring to market, and everyone is right.

You can save money doing it yourself.
Sometimes, its more then that, and Pinballbulbs puts out a great Kit that does take time and save time.
Cointaker are great people, and have knowledge and experience, unlike anyone else, with a great following.
Nifty, in my opinion, does an outstanding job in all areas of service and product.
Myself, I am promoting selection, new bulbs and price.

I am confident there are no "wrong choices", just different choices.

I am sharing this because I support Pinball first and most.
I hope anyone reading this will know, we all win, having all the great people, and choices.

Visit the sites, email if you need help, and make the decision thats best for you......
All choices will make your pin look great! ....and thats all that counts.

Art
www.cometpinball.com

I've tried kits from both Cointaker and Pinballbulbs.com and prefer Pinballbulbs. Just installed one in my ST:TNG and was blown away (will post a review shortly).

0 dead bulbs, half a dozen extras, great customer service, price is fantastic, and the lighting selections in the kit are top-notch. The spotlights and LED strips really knock it out of the park...the spotlights, lower LED strip, and possibly upper LED strip are now must-haves for all of my machines.

Here are some before and after photos, switching from some some unknown cool LEDs that were in the machine when I got it, to PBB (backbox has PBB in both photos, only PF is different). I'll take some better ones later...iPhone camera really over-saturates and blows it out. In person the lighting is very even and not overwhelmingly blue or purple at all.

photo 4-487.JPG
photo 2-722.JPG

Just build your own. Its not rocket science.

I have used cointaker and never had an issue with dead bulbs etc. Recently bought the insert kit for my metallica pro. I didnt like some of the color choices, but it was a good starting point. The documentation provided was through and easy to follow. So i followed up with another purchase with my tweaks and had a blast last weekend tinkering with what is best.

Biggest misses for my personal taste in the met insert kit are
-purple for cross inserts
-blue for sparky feet inserts
-fast color changers for big sparky inserts in lanes, they flash on/off too much so never really light up

I put the bright white leds in the inserts in the lanes for crosses and sparky, but they are too "cool" and wash out the artwork on the playfield. So i ordered some warm white and will play with those.

+1 to this!Some of my neighbors actually are using the "flasher" bulb we carry in their landscape lighting because it is 12v and didn't cost $7 or whatever crazy price lowes was charging!

I have used both Cointaker and Pinball Bulbs and can't complain about either. I have had dead bulbs with both, but both have sent out replacements at no extra charge (well haven't got my PBB one yet). Both promptly answer my emails, but Cointaker are a bit higher in price. Have no other experience with others so no comment.

Waiting on seeing what a Getaway kit from PBB looks like as I am considering going this route for a change. I have previously built my own but some of the kit pictures on PBB website look sweet (and some not so much), but in general I like what they have done so far.

I am one that can't really justify having bins of different bulbs around to try, I do have some 'spares' so the kit ideal is kind of growing on me and to hear the PBB doesn't mark up any extra for a kit is cool.

As for ghosting, I have been hit and miss on this. For example my FT on the stretch the truth sign I have 1 bulb that likes to ghost, but none of the others. I also have on my F14 the left out lane 'special' led also ghosts.

Yes, there are. Lots of them actually, and they are more than acceptable alternatives (most have been mentioned in this thread already).

Competition/choice is a good thing.

Hey Art, when will the "Ultimate Optix" bulbs be available?

These look like they will be equivalent to the NoFlix Plus bulbs from Germany. I've been keeping my eyes open for these to come to the states. Your site says approximate launch date October 23. Are these coming in soon?

We Stock about 2000 LED's at any given time, and we still buy the kits when we are doing higher end machine conversion. For more then 1 Reason, We know will have the bulbs we will need(Type, Style and Color) Plus Time is Money, Either payroll or lost income. I don't mind paying CT, PB or other kit makers for there time. I've Yet to order a PB kit but I have used there normal product and its top Notch and I plan to order a few kits in the coming weeks to check them out as he builds his kit library. Cointakers kits have always been very good and tastefully done.

As others have said we are very lucky to have the vendors that we do for Pinball parts and Such.

I've yet to order from Comet or Nifty but rest assured I will be at some point to try there products too.

In stock now,
Doing the last pictures....Hopefully, by the End of the day...Tomorrow latest, with some surprises!

GREAT news!

Having these available here in the states is going to be a huge advantage, and as far as I know Cometpinball is the only one who now has these.

Thanks for the update.

I guess I was thinking along the lines of the animated LED kit for the Tron 3D translite that makes the light beam look like its going up like in the movie. Just wondering if anything had been created similar for the Chicks translite.

Got it! Sorry, I thought you were referring to bulbs in the backbox, my bad. None that I am aware of currently.

Thanks! I'll continue looking at your Tron kit(s) for my LED upgrade.