The best phono cartridge alignment tool

Here ya go! And the price is right!

Feickert or Mint. But the most complete and thoughtful design is the SMARTractor. Which is over your budget. If you’re spending more than $2000 on a cartridge you ought to learn how to do setup yourself. A high end precision protractor is something you’ll use literally the rest of your audio life.

I have the Geo Disc, the Mint and the Feickert. Maybe because I wear bifocals I don’t’ recommend the Geo. Sighting down that rail to the pivot is near impossible. I have to stand way back to see the whole rail in focus.
The Mint is the most accurate thing I’ve ever seen, in theory. There are a couple “gotchas”. Both the arc the stylus traverses and the null point angles are extremely accurate. So accurate that if the spindle to pivot is off even a millimeter it’s not possible to align the cantilever to the grid at both null points simultaneously. Another gotcha is the only way to set overhang is trial and error. If the stylus is on target at both null points the overhang is correct. But there’s no reference. Just set the stylus on one grid and check it on the other. Simple, right? No. It will be off. Figuring which way and how much to change the overhang is a shot in the dark. It can easily take an hour. My work around was to tape down the Mint to the old cartridges overhang, then remove the old cartridge. The last gotcha is getting a powerful enough loop that doesn’t hit the cart before it’s in focus. Don’t believe anyone who says it’s easy. It’s a pain.
The Feickert automatically compensates for S2P error and has a reference for setting overhang. Aligning the cartridge to the grid is straight forward from there.
All protractors only get you in the ballpark. That last bit of adjustment is on you.

I have plenty of alignment tools, going all the way back to the original Dennesen, which was excellent. Of them all, my favorite is the original Wallytractor. These were made specific to each arm, unlike their current universal model. What's great about the Wallytractor and others such as the Mint is the mirrored gauge. That allows you to align the cantilever itself and once you've done that, it's difficult to accept any other approach to alignment.

But - that little cardboard gauge that SME ships with its arms such as the SME V? Genius! It can get alignment very, very close. But like all unmirrored gauges, it makes assumptions about your cartridge.