I hear people say this.. and I'm confused because literally I see little to no difference between DE and Williams flipper mechs. Current line up is 5 DE pins, 5 Williams, 6 Bally, 7 Gottlieb, a Sega and a Chicago Coin.

In all honestly the only one that shoots weird is Williams Blackout; has some odd shot geometry off the flippers it took me a day or two to adjust.

Same thing in regards to DE reliability, no worse than anyone else. I'd wager based on my experience more reliable than Gottlieb. I do far more System 80 work compared to DE whos worst has been fried GI connectors.

"Nobody made worse cabinets than Data East 1987-1990."

LOL

Hard to take posts like this serious as all the DE cabinets I have are great but the Williams in my collection made of chip wood in the back was falling apart. Same thing with Gottlieb of the same time frame being made of HEAVY particle board, just swelling and popping like mad. Not to mention the infamous Bally Williams generic cabinets as well.

All six DE games in my collection are made from plywood with zero particle board and are in great condition.

Part number on the Lethal Weapon 3 flipper coil is a Stern 090-5001-OT (23-800) used on the following.

DATA EAST: Back to the Future, Batman, Checkpoint, Guns N Roses, Hook, Jurassic Park, Laser War, Last Action Hero, Lethal Weapon 3, Monday Night Football, Phantom of the Opera, Playboy 35th, Robocop, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Royal Rumble (WWF), Secret Service, Simpsons, Star Trek, Star Wars, Tales From the Crypt, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Time Machine, Tommy, Torpedo Alley, WWF Royal Rumble

SEGA: Batman Forever, Lost World Jurassic Park, Twister

STERN PINBALL: Austin Powers, Avatar, Batman, Big Buck Hunter Pro, CSI, Dale Jr., Elvis, Elvis Gold, Family Guy, Grand Prix, Harley Davidson, High Roller Casino, Indiana Jones, Iron Man, Lord of the Rings, Monopoly, NASCAR, NBA, NFL Pinballs (all teams), Pirates of the Caribbean, Playboy, Ripley's Believe it or Not!, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Sharkey's Shootout, Shrek, Simpsons Pinball Party, Sopranos, Spider-Man, Striker Xtreme, Terminator 3, TRON Legacy, Wheel of Fortune, World Poker Tour

I just ordered two for my LW3. The flippers really should be no more or less powerful as the machines listed above. Flipper pawl crank is same part number as well. There could be a difference on the flipper control boards, but I don't have that information.

I do find the 80s Williams and Gottlieb flippers to be on the weak side (Gottlieb more so) so maybe in comparison the DE ones are "strong"