How does Shure V15 Type IV compare?

I find Chak's endless rants about fairly "RARE" vintage cartridges (rare in finding them in GOOD operating condition) as well as his rants about belt drive decks tiresome (to say the least;-).

@dekay but i hope you can learn some from my posts at least. 

I want to know more about rare cartridges (or rare models from well know brands) myself and do my best to find them, because people who review cartridges have no idea about 80% of the cartridge population so the reviews are useless when they limit themselves only to new models. In the end we have maybe 5 different cartridges everyone is raving about, this is a bit boring and does not display the whole picture. I always trying to add some forgotten cartridges to the list of recommended MM or MI, because i know they are very good (and better than many more expensive units). 

@chakster : how about the Microacoustics 2002 electret cartridge and the higher-priced models from this US company? I had the 2002 in use on a JH Formula 4 arm back in '78. Sounded excellent! 

@dekay : the V15 IV got a negative review in TAS back in the days of yore! The next version (V15 V mr) was a considerable improvement! I have a brand new-in-box one that I'm keeping as a heirloom piece!

I never was a big fan of Shure V15, in any iteration of it.  Not compared to any cartridge that is among my top 10 or so.  I used a V15 for years in the 70s, along with my AR-XA turntable; that was the standard set-up for middle class audiophiles with high end ambitions, back then. Many, like Chak, do say that the Ultra 500 is superior; I have no basis to doubt or confirm that, but the majority who have heard both do make that claim.
Chak, I'd have to go check my cartridge treasure drawer to be certain, but it seems to me that the Pickering model above the XSV3000 is the XSV4500.  I know you know about it, but above THAT there is also the XSV7500, which is a "low output" MM, an analog to the Stanton 980LZS and 981LZS.  There is also a high output version of the Stanton that Raul prefers over the low output one, 980HZS.  Back in the days when Raul's thread on MM cartridges was thriving, the Stanton 980/981 series got better "reviews" than the CS100.  No one mentions any more the AKG cartridges; have you heard one?  I have two, one with a van den Hul stylus, that I bought used (a rare exception) and just have never had the time to audition. They were known to break easily.  I own 6-8 expensive MC cartridges; only one or two of them can play in the league with the best MM/MI types in my collection.  So I tend to agree with Chakster.  Paradoxically for me, my best sounding phono stages are high gain types, two of which do not even accommodate high output cartridges.

The suspension on any cantilever of a stylus from the 70s, 80s or 90s is in a word 'shot' as it is perished. There is no way a stylus like this will perform properly- seek a new replacement. If not available there are many cartridges that will sound better as a result.
One inexpensive example is the Grado Gold.