Surface-mount technology (SMT) is in practically all new electronics now. This includes pinball machines. It is cheaper and faster to produce. It CAN be better than through-hole counterparts. There are advantages, like smaller (denser) board designs, less leads and traces, etc. But therein lies the problem...IF there is a failure, not only do you have the challenge of needing experience and tools to repair/replace SMT, but you have less space to work with from the start and that is best case scenario assuming that a failure did not damage the traces or circuit board around it. If a component fails catastrophically and burns the traces around it, then I believe you have something that can not feasibly repaired.

I do believe this is throw away technology in most cases for that very reason. Nevermind the fact that Stern has not yet offered schematics. In most of the bad SMT boards that I have come across, the components failed (for whatever reason) and then typically damaged the board itself. This is because they are mounted directly to the board. Compared to a failed resistor on a Pinball 2000 driver board I was working on yesterday...the resistor is burnt up, and the board is scorched a little, but I can replace the resistor no problem because it didn't affect the traces around it. Even if it did, there is enough room to jumper further on down the trace. On a SMT board, forget it...there are other components mounted just millimeters away.

Theoretically there could be SMT boards designed well enough to be reliable and repairable if something happened (like shorting a coil circuit to a switch or light circuit while working on a pin). But are they going to design them that way? And if we're thinking like a business, do you want people repairing their own boards or do you want them to be sent in for repair or, better yet, thrown away and replaced with a new one at a price that you get to set? Hmmm...