I have read a lot of Stern stuff saying the have dropped the ball etc, and I am a bally/williams man by coincidence. All my games are b/w.
And I must admit that I have agreed with a lot that has been said about Stern and have had enough of the Stern bandwagon from Cavey. BUT....... I just had an arvo playing mint condition, properly set up stern LE games and what a blast. Iron man, avatar, transformers, LOR, spiderman played fast like on ice, lit up like your favourite xmas tree, and all mechs working to their optimum. The LOR did sound clunky which really highlighted how far stern has come quality wise with the later releases like transformers. The flippers were the best I have experienced. And I had some real old time fun that I haven't felt from a pinball for sometime. It was like finding pinball again. So if you have some reservations about Stern, find a properly working game first and then make your mind up. I would buy one in a heart beat now.
Now I will qualify my opinions by saying these games were new to me and so a novelty. Also they were set up perfectly, but I still think it is worth giving credit to this brand.