I am inching ever closer to making my first pin purchase and although I think I have decided that Firepower will be the pin I buy first, there is a Vector for sale in my general area.

I realize that opinions on Vector vary much more than on Firepower, in general; however, the Vector pin intrigues me. The Vector that is for sale apparently has a ball trough switch issue.....it won’t serve up a ball. As a brand new guy to this I have a question. I suppose that issue could be BOTH a board issue and a mechanical issue with the trough switch itself, yes?

I was also wondering if trough switches are a plug and play item amongst most pins of the same era....or would you be locked in to finding a specific OEM switch for a 1982 Bally Vector?

Fair enough. I am a little puzzled as to why the current owner hasn’t addressed what does not appear to be a major issue on what appears to be a pretty damn nice pin. Maybe he is more of a check-writer than a wrench-turner...like me. Thanks for the feedback. I really do like the look of that Vector.

Interesting stuff. Thanks for the feedback. The relative rarity and fact that the Vector is essentially local piqued my interest, but I imagine that Firepower will be my entree into the hobby.

I kinda dig all of the stuff on the Vector playfield but I understand I am in the minority. Now I just gotta find a Firepower in decent shape.

Well, just to keep the thought process going...seller says the Vector will boot up and go into attract mode but will not serve a ball. Says you can put a ball in the shooter lane and the pin will function correctly otherwise and keep score. Apparently it has a new MPU board and some aftermarket ROMs as well.

1500.00. Do I have a multimeter? Yes

Agreed. It’s a bit overpriced for not being fully operational based on my limited research. If possession is nine-tenths of the law, then it seems to me that fully operational ought to be nine-tenths of the price; however, I am not sure that rule applies all that often in arcade and pinball pricing/buying.

It would be nice to have enough technical experience with pinball machines to be able to hypothesize on possible issues and have some educated guess on their costs to fix. I enjoy the feedback and nuggets of wisdom anyway.

Cool. I am new enough to this to not understand the technical process of elimination when approaching a problem like this. If, for instance, this is indeed a trough switch issue...how do you begin to determine whether it’s an electrical/mechanical issue with the switch itself or if it’s a board issue?

I was also concerned about parts availability for a pin like Vector versus something mass-produced like Firepower, for long-term maintenance sake. I don’t have a lot of room in my place for pinball machines, probably two at the most. I am going to find and purchase a Firepower, but those pop up relatively frequently. Not too many Vectors for sale out there and this one is in driving distance.

A dirty, unshopped Space Shuttle popped up yesterday locally and I really wanted to pull the trigger on it but would have had to do so sight unseen. If I was experienced technically, I would have jumped on it. Aaaarrgh.