Best TT for the buck?

Welcome! A friend recently bought one of the Project One brand turntables and he's very happy with it- I think you can get one for around $400 bucks new.
If you're mechanically inclined, used tt's can be a good way to go-do a lot of reading so you know what to look for. Nothing worse than being geeked about a new purchase only to find out that there's a part missing or broken and having to try to find a replacement part.
Technics, Pioneer,JVC,Harman Kardon,Marantz, Sony, AR (Acoustic Research) all made some very capable turntables when vinyl was king (Lots of other companies as well as the ones I mentioned)
Packing turntables for shipping can be tricky, so don't skimp on the insurance and if possible pay w/ a credit card so you have some way to recoup if the shipper/ or shipping company denies your claim.
Lots of resources on this site-and many knowledgeable people. Good luck!

I would look for a Rega P3 or stretch for a used P3-24.

Chuck

Two musts, first buy used, second only buy something that can be picked up and listened to. Shipping vintage TT is always a loser for the buyer, for all the reasons other state. Finally, a suggest TT would be the Denon 47F, with the 160 cartridge. Cost should be no more then $400.

For a first tt, I have been extremely pleased with my Pro-ject Debut III. The gloss black version is $359 at NeedleDoctor at the moment. You can probably get them to discount it and the rest of your order another 10%. Upgrade the stylus (not the cartridge) and get a SpeedBox and you should be pretty happy. I upgraded the cartridge to a mc; if you do this, you will also need to get the acrylic platter. If I had it to do over, I would just upgrade the stylus on the pre-installed cart.

The big plus here is the easy setup, the ability to return it if you don't like it, and a warranty. Setup takes about 5 minutes, and the tt sounds pretty good :)

Otherwise, you might want to check around for a killer deal on a Rega P2.

PMB