Affordable Turntable Options

I don't understand people's aversion to buying vintage turntables. Turn tables are so simple that they rarely break. If they do usually it's easy and inexpensive to fix. Unless obviously you're talking about a very complex direct drive. But an old vintage belt drive is almost bullet proof. And even the old complex belt drives are very reliable. Worst case you may have to recap them and you will get years of trouble free service.

Have you made direct comparisons?

Yes, except u-turn but it has a lousy tonearm. Cueing as an add-on and no antiskate.  The improved version supposed to have a fixed bias another crappy idea.

I don't understand people's aversion to buying vintage turntables.

Because they are electro-mechanical devices with may pushing be 40 years old or more.  And just like Granny's car stored a shed for 40 years, you wouldn't expect to be able to start it and drive away? Same with vintage TT's - they will require some degree of maintenance and repair and that will mean opening the unit up. And this is what people have an aversion too, especially newbies just discovering vinyl for the first time.  Most don't even know they need a phono preamp. let alone degreasing a vintage TT's automatics or deoxidizing the speed pots.  Ask a newbie to even identify a potentiometer inside a TT?

Vintage is fine if your technically inclined!  But not everyone is. 

And yes, I have a 40 year old Technics SL-1400 that I picked up practically free from an original owner that I totally restored and now operates as if its fresh out of the box.  But if I couldn't do this and had to take it to a shop, I would have walked away from it.  That money would have best been spent buying new.

"I don't understand people's aversion to buying vintage turntables."

+1. Many of the vintage TTs offer superior performance to new models, especially at the <$500 price point the OP has specified.

I have had great results from carefully selected Thorens, Luxman, and Empire vintage turntables as well as vintage MM/Electret cartridges.

The biggest problem is getting them shipped safely as many sellers don't have the original packaging nor the knowledge to correctly disassemble the table/arm and pack it properly to avoid damage during shipping.

The other key to success is knowing how to setup the table for proper functioning. Manufacturers' instructions for packaging, setup, and operation are available for most models from vinylengine.com.

Dave

The biggest problem is getting them shipped safely as many sellers don't have the original packaging nor the knowledge to correctly disassemble the table/arm and pack it properly to avoid damage during shipping.

Worried about shipping?  That would imply buying a vintage TT online from a vendor like Ebay and that poses a whole other problem - trusting that the TT works at factory spec despite what the seller says.  Most selling vintage on line really have no idea.

If your going to go vintage, buy only from Craiglist or a local shop where you actually inspect and hear the TT before you buy it.  Or your going to get burned.