Vinyl cleaning - Ultrasonic vs. Walker products

Ultrasonic is superior.  I learned this from experience and formulated my opinion.  I had a very expensive VPI cleaner top of the line (like 4K), vacuum etc.  It cleaned my records well and I had no complaints.  There was noticeable improvement on some of my used LP purchases.
Then I read a thread on Audiogon not much more than 2 1/2 months ago on the subject of LP cleaning.  An engineer in this group talked about his Digital Ultrasonic Cleaner that he paid $150.00 for and raved about it.  I figured for $150 I didn't have a lot to lose and I'd sell which ever one performed the lesser of the two. 
I bought it.  Instructions were not too good.  I think it's made in China, but the pictures were enough to figure everything out.  I put it to work.  I can do 5 records at a time, no sweat.  It is amazing how clean the ultrasonic has gotten my records.  As it vibrates the water and infiltrates the grooves, it cause tiny particulates to fall to the bottom of the silver tank/pan.  I could see in the bottom of the pan from records I had already cleaned with my VPI, specs of dirt that came loose.  As a bonus I even shined up some of my wife's jewelry using it.  
So now my VPI is up for sale.  I will gladly give you a good price on it if you want to go that route.  Otherwise if you want to go ultrasonic just log on line and type in Digital Ultrasonic Cleaner and see if they still come up.  Good luck.

@normantaylor - are you using more than just distilled water?  Any surfactants or detergents or alcohol in you pr US cleaner?

If you've only got 200 to do, I'd strongly recommend BORROWING a cleaner (either vacuum or ultrasonic), paying the lender a few bucks for its use, and call it a day after you do the cleaning.  Since these are inherited and not a collection you've assembled yourself, you'll probably find that you really like about 20 out of the 200 records, and any expense purchasing a record cleaner will have been wasted.

I was using one of the Nitty Gritty cleaners for years, then got a deal on a VPI HW-17. Much easier to use. You might want to get the VPI 16.5 though. No point in using the liquid dispersal pump. Just squirt 3 or 4 lines of fluid around the record. (This can't be done with the Nitty Gritty, as it cleans the bottom side). VPI cleaners clean the top side. Much morelogical. Quicker too. A bit less noisy, and cleans in both directions. Plus, one rotation with the vacuum and it's done.

I haven't used US cleaners (except for my airbrushes). To me it's about how long it takes and ease of use.

The answer to your question depends, primarily. upon your answers to these questions:

Do you plan on keeping those records and playing them for your own enjoyment?
Do you have a good quality turntable & cartridge to play them on?
Do you plan to sell the records and make the most money you can on the sale(s)?
How much money are you wiling to spend getting them clean?

There is no question the cavitation or ultrasonic cleaning method is best but don't take my word for it. Visit Michael Fremer at Analog Planet. If you don't know who he is, find out. He's forgotten more about records than most humans on this planet will ever learn.

Generally speaking, the least expensive and easiest record cleaning machine is something like a Knosti Antistat or Spinclean. If Spinclean still uses cleaning pads, get the Knosti. It uses brushes that will get down deep into the grooves. There's no sense using pads, even high quality microfiber cloth pads, to, essentially, push microscopic dirt particles around the grooves. Quality, non-abrasive brushes get down deep into the grooves and get the crud out, rather than pushing round & round.

For a few hundred bucks more, even less on the used market, get a vacuum machine system but something that does NOT have the record(s) bottom sides on a flat surface while you're cleaning the top side. The last thing you want to do is clean one side and then flip it over and put it on a contaminated flat surface while you clean the other. What's the sense in that?

The most effective approach is cavitation or ultrasonic cleaning and you do not have to spend thousands on a machine like this. Check out the "CleanerVinyl" site. You can put together a system like this for considerably less than a grand.

Finally, I would encourage you to do some research and read all you can about "Last" record preservative and "Last" products, in general. No pun intended but "Last" is the last step in my cleaning process. Additionally, if you plan to keep and play those records or have a vinyl collection you care about keeping in great shape, there are a few things you should be doing. For example: learn how to handle & store records properly; use good quality anti-static poly sleeves instead of those funky paper ones; insert the record in the sleeve and, then, into their respective jackets so the openings are not exposed to the air; use a good quality carbon fiber record brush and safe stylus cleaner, like an Onzow, before & after every play of every side and use a good quality record clamp.

These are the basics and don't require as much time & fussing as you might think. If you love music and care about getting the best sound you can, it's a minor labor of love.