It looks to me like they changed the finish on the glove - darker and with a bit more shading.

I wouldn't worry too much - plenty of us live quite far from IL and never have problems

Received my Premium today. I had a couple minor issues but I have to agree that the QA concerns are way overblown. In general I find Stern QA just as good as the JJP’s I’ve bought new - maybe the tech isn’t as fancy but the reliability has been there.

Stern also makes things easy to work on. I find that the screws are reachable, the leaf switches are easy to access and adjust, the lockdown bar clamps are much better than the old spring loaded arm, the swing down display is great, and the boards are easy to inspect. Even installing the quieter fan is simple because the backbox is so organized.

For reference, my two issues were: Thor led board was unplugged, and the avengers tower opto board had a loose connection. Both were 5 second fixes although I admit it took me quite a while to figure out the tower because the behavior was inconsistent.

Anyway, I’ve already replaced the rubber with Perfect Play (before even playing a full game), added a subwoofer output, a quiet fan, a shaker, and PDI glass. It’s going next to my JP prem and I’m very happy with the game. Super fun and more accessible than JP. The ramps are some of my favorite I’ve ever shot.

A flaky tower, you say? That's what I had, and it turned out the opto board connector was halfway off. You have to take the plastic cover off the tower to check it, but that fixed my issues and now my tower works 100% of the time. The cable was under a bit of tension, so I pulled what slack I could into the tower.

In a gem quest, I'd love to have a drain take away a chunk of my health rather than losing the battle. For mediocre players like me, it's so discouraging to get my opponent down to almost no health and then lose all progress because of the drain. Why not take 30-50% of my health for a drain (as an option - good players could still go hardcore)?

If you've taken some damage you'll die anyway, but if you're dominating you'll get a second chance.

You would still lose by draining, but only when your health is low enough that the hit would take you to zero (or your health was already zero).

I understand that not everyone would want a drain to cost health, but it's an option I'd like to have. Leave it off by default and everyone wins.

Of course I recognize Stern isn't going to do it, but I can dream.

Same here. I thought the previous behavior was intended and it felt really unfair. I need all the help I can get!

Stern sent me a new subway - in my case I needed the plastic and the mech - and it’s working much better so far. I’m still getting the occasional two-balls-in-one-section but my other issues are hopefully fixed. I was getting lots of trapped balls - sometimes on a divider and sometimes at the edge of the plastic.

For what it’s worth, the redesigned plastic is all most folks should need (if you have the original design) unless your dividers are messed up. Mine stuck up when they were in the down position.

Just keep it clean and you’ll be fine. A lot of folks use wax but it’s not strictly necessary. It’s easy to go overboard babying machines, but they are designed to go on location and get a lot more abuse than what they’ll see in a home. I’m not saying neglect it of course, and I expect you’ll get other opinions that you have to wax it weekly or it will be destroyed, but honestly they are robust machines.

You’ll want something that can take off the rubber that accumulates on everything. I use novus 2, but it’s a polish so you don’t want to do it all the time. Isopropyl alcohol is fantastic at taking the rubber off and harmless to the playfield, although you probably don’t want to soak it. Just a light spray on a microfiber towel first.

And it gets everywhere. I restored a machine with years and years of liquid wax residue buildup. Every crevice, in the mechs, covering the subway. Yuck.

I replace the black rubber with Perfect Play or Titan on all my machines. It sheds less.

Pinball Life, Titan Pinball, and Marco Specialties are good shops. I’m sure there are others!