Just a warning: The coin op industry does use this chip in a few games. Konami liked it (the Time keeper version). They do fail periodically and they sometimes don't last the amount of time they are supposed to. I would personally avoid any chip with a built in battery unless you welcome the idea of having to change it in the future. It is the batteries that normally fail on these.

The Dallas versions of these chips were supposed to last 10 years. Some, if not many of them didn't. If this is supposed to last 20 years, there is no way they will all make it to that mark. We were changing M48T58Ys out sometimes in the first or second year. Silent Scope was made in 1999, By 2009, I would say every chip had been changed out. Now, we are on the second round on some of these. All chips were bought brand new from authorized distributors.

The $15 or $16 options are a much better choice in my opinion. Well worth the extra $5.00, plug and play and should outlast our lives of collecting. Obviously, as with anything electronic, some will fail to perform through the entire life expectancy the manufacturers provide.

The $29 universal product is a good tool box item. But, I see it hard to swallow the extra cost if you know exactly what game you are buying it for and have no plans to ever take it out (its intended purpose). But to each their own. If $15 is too much, you can build the 6264 version yourself for less. I discussed this in another thread a while back which is where the $15 product stemmed from.

$16 is almost too much for my cheap bastard A$$ so with the help of OSH park, I even make my own 5101 Bally/Stern version for less. But that was before I knew the $16 version existed. Which was the whole point of the original post!