Well, I'm in basically the same boat as you as far as not really being good with the repairs (even gotten a few of the cabs on your short list) so let's chime in with my scoops since I started collecting approximately 2 years ago. My cabs, what I've paid for them, where I've gotten them, and condition:
1: Neo Geo MVS 4 slot (Version 3 from
Hard MVS) - ~$500 after auction fees at a local arcade auction just about 2 years ago. Came with Puzzle Bobble, Samurai Shodown II, World Heroes, and Blazing Star. Mini Marquees were out (very common - there were 3 at the auction and all 3 of them were burned out, plus my friend has a Neo and his are burned out), speakers were a little low, and control panel had been painted poorly, but it was a solid cabinet and played well. I think I got a very good deal, especially with Blazing Star in there.
2 & 3: Sega Astro City candy cabs - ~$2k shipped for the pair from
Ken. I got a pair of them at the same time for a couple reasons (mostly suggested by mjmjr) - ease of diagnosing problems via swapping parts and having one for vertical and one for horizontal games being the primary two. The actual cabs were $750 each, the shipping was about $450-500 from Utah to WNY. The buttons were mushy but playable, the sticks were about the same, and the control panels were a tiny bit rusted in places. The marquee lights flicker a bit on these, I can't tell if it's just a bad bulb/ballast or if it's because the PSUs are a bit weak (common with Astros I've been told) - this is the next step on my fixing up list for these cabs.
4: Ms Pacman cocktail cabinet - $450 from a gentleman on
KLOV. Borrowed my buddy's CRV and went to pick it up in Cleveland, about a 4-5 hour drive and I love driving. This one was again, very playable but a little bit rough condition-wise - the bottom of the cab is a bit chewed up (haven't decided how I'm fixing that), the top glass was badly scratched, and the artwork had definitely seen better days.
5: Megatouch IV bartop cabinet - freebie from a friend of my brother's. No in-depth on this, a: you're unlikely to be in the same position, b: when stuff's free, you say "Thanks" and move on
6: Nintendo Vs "red tent" cocktail cabinet - $100 from a gentleman on
KLOV. Again, borrowed my buddy's CRV and went to pick it up in Yonkers, about a 5-6 hour drive. This one is a project - one of the two monitors has horizontal collapse, the joysticks are nearly unplayable, it's missing a button and it had no keys. But it powered up, the side with the good monitor played, and physically it was in decent (not great) shape. The price was right and it's one of my high-want games so I jumped on it.
That's all of them. Until I got #6 a few weeks ago, none of them have
needed repair, everything I've done to them has been cosmetic or quality-of-life, but they have all been playing 100%. I've done some stuff though - all new joysticks and buttons for #1-3 (new joysticks bought for #4 too, but need to redo some wiring first), sandblasting/powder coating the control panels on #1 (found a local place that does good work for reasonable price in my opinion), new glass and underlay artwork for #4, new control panel overlay for #1 and entirely new control panels with overlays for #2-3. I also have new side art for #2-3 that I haven't installed yet (gotta realy scrub it down first) as well as EL panels for #1 that I haven't installed yet. I want to replace speakers on #1-3 as well as PSU for #2-3 and some or all of the wiring for #2-4. #6 I took the broken monitor to a local shop here to fix on Wednesday - their repair guy was out until Monday, but the guy working the front of the shop said it's a common repair that usually takes them about an hour so it shouldn't be too expensive.
So yeah... it's definitely a commitment - even the fully working stuff, unless you're ready to pay primo prices, can alway use some tuning up. But it's rarely something you need to do all at once. I've got a dozen different things I want to do on all of the systems, and I'm still not a "repair guy" - I haven't touched a soldering iron in years, when I had to re-solder the Ms Pac joysticks in I had a friend do it (and I intend to replace that - the new joysticks I bought have standard QDs not soldered in like the old ones, that's why I said they're bought but not installed). But it's awesome watching the stuff come together slowly but surely.
I'll definitely agree that dedicated cabs are nice, but the candy cabs are an excellent choice too IMO - maybe not that big of a thing if you have a warehouse to work with, but with me working in a basement (that also has 20+ consoles, 1000+ games displayed, a bar, etc) it's a matter of space to cut down a bit and just swap out boards. Probably the last machine I'm actively looking for right now is a Capcom Big Blue, and I honestly have no idea where I would put it. I'm not even sure where I'm gonna put the Red Tent, it's upstairs while I do the heavy lifting on getting it working again, but I think I can fit it in somewhere.