You buy/own what you enjoy playing, and can afford. My King Pin EM stuffed-up last week, I spent 2 days trying to figure out why it kept scoring multiples of 500's and 5000's. Newys EM guy took it away and found the problem, but it wasnt an easy find even for him. EMs usually dont need need parts, just adjustments.
Solid state gear can just die without warning, at worse chips, commonly connector issues. Because we love our games we accept that they all brake-down sometimes. Common maintenance parts for 90's WMS/Bally machines so bloody cheap and plentiful, no reason to think that they are expensive to run.
2000-2500 buys a great machine, no better time than now to take the plunge.
