I agree with your argument BUT I am refering to boards being repairable by hobbyists - SMT certainly is NOT.

Any hobbyist with a jaycar soldering iron and SMD tip(s) can service pinny boards.
It's not impossible, sure they next some practice, but it's VERY achievable at home, many electronics hobbyists i know all manage reworking SMD stuff on occasion and they're NOT experts by any means....
Perhaps you're suggesting the pinny community are retards Mike ??   


On the other note, SMD boards should be $20 so you buy a bunch as spares.
Sadly the big guys like Alltek & Rottendog churning out repro boards are still demanding manufacturers prices, not exactly helping the community, but simply helping their wallet.

At the end of the day, a pinny mpu should be nothing more than 1 FPGA chip, controlling a seperate FET/driver board.

25cents...