What I get tired of hearing on here is people saying grow a pair when something breaks, and those that scream, for $8K we should expect more from a toy. What they should be saying is we expect more from a $8K machine made to be used as a way to make an honest living. If you want a toy, pay the $49.95 for a marble in a plastic box with 2 AA batteries, 4 blinking LEDs, and cabinet legs made by Rubbermaid. Walmart has plenty of toys to choose from.

I think the mindset of the company is what makes the product from that company great or worth crap.

Stern is not who I want making my boutique contract pinball machine if I want it for HUO, because Stern will not care about these machines like they care about a run of Pros off their line for themselves. These things were thrown together, flipped a few times and boxed. Any defects will be handled after the fact. From the factory tours I have taken over the years, the actual amount of care taken on the final inspection seemed higher on the Pros than on any other model. This makes sense if your major market is ops using Pros to make money.

@vid1900, I get that, but nobody is expecting a pinball machine to save their childs life either... so the outrage is somewhat different, don’t you think?

@crazylevi, that wasn’t the actual gist of my initial thought, but your take is 150% accurate for Pinside. Lol

Look it up people- statistically 100% inspection only delivers like 97% defect free parts so even if Stern inspected 100% of their machines, 3% are going to have delivered defects. This is true of EVERY manufacturer, not just Stern. It worked when it left the factory floor, that is all Stern is delivering or cares about. I expect this and accept it. The only thing in this thread that has made me angry is the damage to the playfield due to a dragging flipper. That would tend to boil the old blood for me. Not sure what Stern would or could do either if faced with it but say “sorry”?