What Vinyl quality should I be using?

We will agree to disagree, others will have to judge for themselves.

While this takes the thread way off topic...

I believe the DD process is very good (albeit labor intensive) and I use it as my primary cleaning approach. However, afterwards, I vacuum the still-wet LP with a DIY attachment to my ShopVac. I have to admit, it is, IMHO, a significant improvement over the DD process alone (and less than $2 USD to make).

Quite frankly, I can't see spending the coin on an RCM given the effectiveness of this approach. It is not very elegant, mind you, but very effective. YMMV...

And to take this back to the original question of the thread..."standard vinyl", particularly used vinyl found in old bookstores, estate sales, and resale shops may be the most under-rated pleasure in the world (aside from new guitar strings and a good cup of coffee).

With a little effort, those forgotten treasures can look and sound like new (see earlier posts in this thread), and you can open yourself to a world of new music for very little money. Plus, again IMHO, the hunt for "standard vinyl" in these obscure locations is part of the fun...much more so than arguing over cleaning techniques.

I have found great quality music on most vinyl formats. Some hold up better, won't warp as easy, etc.
As far as cleaning your records, I have recently found the steaming method to be beyond reproach, although labor intensive. I don't believe an automatic machine/vacuum can match steaming with hand vacuuming done properly. There is a thread about steaming and if you haven't tried it check it out. Steaming will remove stuff deep in the micro grooves that a passive machine just doesn't effect. It is completely safe to the records with proper care to cover the labels, if that is important to you. I could care less about the labels, jackets either for that matter. It's all about the grooves for me and steaming will reveal things that you haven't heard since your records were new.

I don't want to belabor the subject, but I never said that hand cleaning vinyl was inherently inferior to machine cleaning. My claim is that vacuuming as a final step is superior to hand drying. Every record I've played thus far has been cleaned by hand, and then cleaned again on the VPI 16.5. This is I believe, the superior way to clean vinyl, all future cleaning will still include the hand cleaning.
As to the subject at hand, records worth playing can be found at garage sales, record shows (if they still exist), flea markets, used record stores, new from web retailers,etc., in other words wherever you can find them. Visual inspection is ok, a demo play is best. Most of my 2,000 plus records are from shows, used record stores and garage sales, very little new vinyl.