As an adult with disposable income surface mount is easy, I have great soldering irons and I order PCBs all the time (used to make them too but it's gotten chea

As an adult with disposable income surface mount is easy, I have great soldering irons and I order PCBs all the time (used to make them too but it's gotten cheap enough that it's not worth the hassle) But for a 15 year old with no budget and limited tooling (even flux would have been a luxury), being able to order off a sample form and get something that just worked was invaluable.