Quoted from taylor34:I think it depends on what you're shopping for. It's hard to beat PBL prices on a lot of the common DMD era parts like flipper rebuild kits...those alone are ~$10 cheaper at PBL then Marco or PBR. PBL just doesn't carry a lot of EM or early solid state parts like PBR does, so if that's what you need you're somewhat limited in choices.
PBL flipper rebuild parts are complete crap. Not throwing the company under the bus here, but the metal they use is weak. They fold so easy when tightening up. I have rebuilt hundreds of flippers, and learned this the hard way. I had a HUO Popeye that was an eye opener for me. I wanted to check the plunger and stop to see if it needed to be rebuild (they were perfect still), but when tightening back on the pawl, I couldn't believe how strong it was, and it didn't just cave in like the PBL ones. I ordered from PBR after this for something, had my first rebuild from there, and wow, same strong pawl. I have also noticed plungers do not wear anywhere like the PBL ones do as well. Again, my conclusion to this was that Steve uses a stronger metal composition, close to the original.
I have noticed the exact same issues in PBL with their rubber. Their red rubbers start wearing at the tips in weeks. I have ordered from everyone on this, as I am super picky about flippers mechs and rubber, and I have bags of EVERYONE's red rubber (PBR, PBL, HAPP, Marco), and PBR is the only one that holds up and is as close to the original NOS red rubber - which I was able to order a 50 piece bag of.
There is no comparing PBL rebuilds or rubber to the quality you get with PBR.
