Quoted from Lhyrgoif:This. I vote with my wallet and therefore doesn't own a single Stern (or JJP), simply too expensive for being a toy.
I worked for 21 years in marketing in construction equipment manufacturing for two of the larger names in the business. I saw this every new model year, watched accounting push the downscaling of the quality of components to drive more profits to the bottom line. Gave the end user a less quality, less solid product every time they did that ... to a product that needed to hold up to the demands of tough jobsites.
And every year that they reduced the quality of vendor supplied parts, I had to issue new price lists with the standard 1/1 increase of the usual Extra 3%. On product often costing > $1 million.
Same reason there are no Sterns in my house. Same rationales too.
I love to play them but I wont participate in this hobby as a Stern owner, based on what I've read at Pinside with owner issues. Have also taken non pinhead friends to York and Allentown and their comments on "look and feel" compared to playing other non Stern titles, mirrors most comments here.
Just my 2 cents.