I will agree here with you Gav because you are the expert when it comes to boards etc.

Three questions.

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3. If the current design of a Stern is well made, which looks the case to me, is it fair to say most items in a home market environment will last 10 years. Therefore, is it only the operators who shld have the occassional hassle ?
 

Im no expert... but have repaired a few boards over the years..

1. what will JJP use with WOZ ?....  Have no idea

2. if the replacement cost is low from Stern/Sterns agents for these computer boards, does that make it OK to go with the design of the boards they have, or is this just a cost cutting exercise

Its cheaper to have surface mount boards made... wether the replacements are cheap or not we dont know.. none are on the market that i know of. How much is cheap? $100?? $200? $300?
My point is that Joe owner of a new Stern who can fix every other machine in the collection can no longer do this and has to send away for new boards... thats just plain stupid on the part of Stern


If the current design of a Stern is well made, which looks the case to me, is it fair to say most items in a home market environment will last 10 years. Therefore, is it only the operators who shld have the occassional hassle ?

Its not well made... we have machines DOA for chrissakes... the bell seems to be a badly thought out part of the machine that numerous people have had to address.
$9K for 10 years is bullshit Cavey... some of my machines are 70+ years old and still working. SS machines coming on 35 years old still working... yes theyve had repairs and faulty grounding on the manufacturers part has been addressed etc... but the point is they are still working because they are REPAIRABLE. The owners repair them and keep them going for years. This has been taken away from ACDC owners.. Sterns greatest triumph and yet they will not stand the test of time because Stern havent allowed it. It will be like CFTBL hologram except the board are the heart and lungs of the machine, not a nice glowy thing.
No matter how you look at it... Stern have seriously misread the home pinball market.
What happens if JJP really takes off and leaves Stern for dust? Will they still be operating?

The question you should really be asking yourself is HOW LONG the replacement boards will be available for.. and now what do you do?? Buy CPU, Driver etc boards as back up? to have on a shelf " just in case?"

Mate... you shouldnt have to do ANY of these things!