Thanks again for all the amazing follow-up and information.
Tony from AK, I know you understand my concerns with our remoteness and shipping up here. Shipping Southern Alaska Forwarding out of Seattle is typically the most reasonable way of shipping up from the lower 48 and something we have done often. As you know, dealing with a table that has "issues" of any kind is so much more complicated up here. This is part of why I had hoped to buy new...if the table arrived with issues, a manufacturer or store is much more likely to resolve the problems than an individual. We are in Kodiak, btw.
There were several brands here that were recommended and I have been looking into them all. I have been unable to find where to even try to buy (or find a price for) a Fireball - seems they maybe just take orders for them at tournaments, plus (and don't laugh at me) the field looks to be a bright blue color, which I'm not crazy about. The Bonzini is definitely out of our price range. Several others only seemed to come in bright "sporty" colors or aluminum, which is just not an option for the room this will be going into (I know, I know...) The Performance Tables appeared solid from what I could tell online, but seemed to be priced similar to what I could get a Tornado for. The Rock-it build just looks like it might not stand the test of time and is a little too contemporary in styling with the metallic cabinets for me.
On several of the others, what is truly confusing for the foosball newbie is that there are so many different levels of tables within the brands. It's overwhelming! If I could narrow down to a brand with wood(like) cabinets, then maybe I could continue to narrow down based on price and quality.
Someone asked what my purpose was for the table. This will definitely be a "for fun only" type of table with casual use by us and friends, however, one of you made a point that, one day, we'll have teenagers beating on this thing and we all know they are "gifted" at wear and tear. With that in mind, you are correct, a good quality table is going to be worth its investment in the long run.
I am struggling a little with several comments that were made:
First) One of you said not to even think about buying a "home use" table. Is this *any* home use table? Are all of the non-commercial tables really going to be that lacking??
Looking at Tornado as one example, there seem to be four levels. Tournament 3000 (coin op AND non-coin op), Elite, Classic, and Sport. Are you saying that the Elite, Classic, and Sport shouldn't even be considered? Also, is the Tournament 3000 coin op a different quality than the Tournament 3000 non-coin op or simply the same machine without the coin op mech? Personally, I would prefer not to deal with a coin op mech simply because is it unnecessary and would become one more moving part to maintain and worry about jamming or breaking.
As an aside, the darn T-3000 is an aluminum-style cabinet and that just won't work for me. I did get an e-mail that listed a used 2002 T-2000 Mahogany coin op. in very good condition (whatever that means). But, again, I'm worried about a used table appearing dirty or worn, concerned about the coin-op mech and, being in Alaska, I'm worried that, if there is an issue or a problem with this 10-year old table, any issues might quite difficult to resolve.
Second) The Tornado brand name is thrown around here a lot as top-end, however one of you mentioned some quality-control issues that have me concerned. Are the quality control issues on the lower-end tables or on all of them? If there were problems, how is Tornado customer service for handling issues?
Third) To make things more complicated, it seems there is another line (
) of Tornado tables by Valley-Dynamo like the Cyclone ii and the Storm? WTH? Are these Tornado tables also, or is this a subsidiary??? If a subsidiary, are they as good as the "regular" Tornado models. <sigh>
PGA_Fooser turned me onto tornadofoosball.com for better Tornado pricing. I just heard back from them and the prices seem very competitive, but I'm really struggling with what to do based on the questions I listed above.
I'm sorry to continue to ask questions, but, as I am learning more from your posts, I'm finding my questions are getting more specific. You've been incredibly helpful and I really appreciate your continued patience with me. It's clear you must love the sport to put up with a newbie like me.