Quoted from Manimal:

I think a lot of folks are missing the point on the "no pro" lineup. I don't think this is a future trend, or a cash grab as I originally suspected. After talking to my distributor, and another local distributor here that I work with, I anticipate they will go back to the old way of doing things with the next model. From what the Distros are being told, Gary is marketing this pin pretty much to collectors only, and there is no real intention to drive route sales on this model. These are an anniversary issue, and they anticipate much fewer sales and very limited runs. Remember, it has 2 LCD's, and they are promising a ton of other features...many of which might not fare well on a routed pin. Also, the more features it has, the higher the price they need to charge, so they are fully aware it becomes less cost-effective for a route operator to purchase one and try to make his money back a few quarters at a time. So somewhere along the line, they made the decision not to price this for route. I know there are a lot of individuals that can't afford anything but a Pro, and it leaves them hanging out in the wind.....(I'm not saying I agree with the decision, I am just relaying what I am told). The pricing model is set up knowing 99% of these will be purchased for private collections. This is also why Stern is requiring the deposit be sent directly to them. They know they are going to sell limited numbers, so they don't want to stock a bunch of units or parts that will sit in a warehouse.....they want a deposit up front, so they know the buyer is committed, and they have the Capital to purchase the parts. They manufacture only to demand, and very little more if any. If we take all of the emotion out of this and stand back and look at it logically, it makes perfect sense. So I think we can all exhale on the pricing...they are not doing away with Pros all together. However, this does give a lot of credibility to the thread debates on whether the bulk of Stern's income is still from route operators. I think this is a very good case in point that the customer base for Stern is shifting away from operators and more to private collectors. I would also think about availability of future parts for these units. If stern is marketing this as stated, they will likely not stock any game specific parts in large numbers, or for very long......this could also be why they are bringing back the crane....maybe they have several hundred mecs lying around somewhere? lesson learned......lol