Now that ive sold all 3 pins, im looking for something newer and more reliable... is there such a thing or am i forever going to have to fix things i know nothing about?? Thoughts?

They always need some work from time to time, more just maintenance and minor servicing if the game has been reco'd properly.  With a solid steel ball flying around the playfield, vibration etc things will always break etc.

Since rebuilding my Black Hole (Sys 80 - one of the worst!) it has been 100% reliable and never missed a beat.  Same as my Data East pins.  They sometimes get a bad wrap, but I always do the necessary things at the start (ie G.I's, fuse clips etc) and have always been again 100%.

I find DMD's easy to work on and I take my hat off to the EM guys.

Now comes the fun part - deciding what machine to get!

Might be worth a trip down to Melb and do the rounds to play as many machines as you can get your hands on.

On a side note (not knowing your budget) I played a NIB Ironman at a good mates place a little while ago and I must say its by far the best 'new' game I've ever played.