best value - record cleaning machine

Buy a manual machine, good brushes, and the cleaning fluid of your choice.

Automatics are inferior and a waste of money.

Audiofeil,

I'm thinking manual is the way to go.

For me, the less to break and still get the job done, the better.

Look at it this way, when you want your car cleaned right, do you go to a car wash or hand clean yourself?

No brainer.

Machines are damn convenient though.

But also a compromise.

I like the car wash idea. Put the records in dish racks in the back of a pickup and run em through the wash.Just dont use the wax.

IMO the brushes and fluid are more critical than the machine. My VPI 16.5 just spins the record and sucks the fluid off, pretty simple really. Its the fluid and brushes that really get into the grooves. FWIW, I'm using Walker Solution with very good results. It takes more time than most since there are 3 steps, but like anything else, it takes time to do a thorough job.