Quoted from snaroff:It's unfortunate. From my perspective, Hovers are the mounting mechanism that should have been there since "day 1". The magna mounts have given me grief since "day 1" of my Pinstadium adoption.
If I'm looking to add Pinstadiums with Hovers for a new machine, the cost goes from $300 => $350 (with shipping). And what do I do with the magna strips? Throw them in the garbage? Odd.
At $300 w/shipping, Pinstadiums are already a high-end mod. The Hover mechanism should be bundled with the product. If it were, I would expect a ~$20 price bump? $50 seems crazy high for an upgraded mount.
Assuming the Hover approach is universally superior to the magnets, why not simply "phase out" the magnets? I have Pinstadiums on 8 games and 3 of 8 had magnet issues (where the magnet wouldn't adhere to the cabinet and/or LED strip). Scott did an awesome job supporting my magnet issues, but it was still a hassle to wait, reinstall, etc.
Not trying to tell Scott how to configure/price his product (or bust his balls, but the current bundling/pricing doesn't sit well with me. I love Pinstadiums and just want what's best for both Scott and the community. At the end of the day, the market will speak I guess.
I feel the same way but didn't really say anything for a couple of reasons... Not my product (I have no idea what the cost to make these are) and no one is forcing me to buy it. I find it hard to believe that there isnt quite a bit of profit built into the pricing of these though. Im good with that on the initial system, but think the mounting system should not have that much of a mark up. I agree with you completely though because my magnets gave me issues too and Scott offered to replace them, but I chose to wait for Hover. I figured that maybe Hover might be around $20 a set which I still thought a bit much for a mounting option, but figured I could swallow it. When it came out at $50 a pop, I have to admit, I hesitated and thought about just keeping my inferior magna mounts. But I went ahead and after shipping and whatever, spent close to another $200 for my 3 machines which for lack of a better word, is just ridiculous and I have had second thoughts since I did it. I really hope that upon receiving them, I feel better about the purchase, but I just cant wrap my head around that price for a mounting option. At this point, I am fairly certain I will be passing on Blur when it comes out.
In my case, I dont have a lot of room so my pin collection will not be growing much over the years and at the most, I hope to be able to add 3 pins someday. But as much as I love what the pin stadiums do to the games, I will really have to evaluate the game's lighting in the future to decide if it really needs it instead of just automatically putting it on the machine. The pricing at this point is getting hard to justify.