Nitty Gritty 1.0 vs Record Doctor V

So this guy is offering me the Nitty Gritty 1.0 for 150$(which I think is the oldest version) and he said he had it for 8 years and cleaned 200 records with it. Do you think I should get this given the good deal or go for a brand new doctor V ?

 

A 1.0 is basically a higher quality Record Doctor V, from what I see on Nitty Gritty's site.

 

I have a very old Nitty Gritty 1.0, and an almost as old Record Doctor. They both work about the same. The NG just looks little nicer.

 

I used to have an RD. I worked. I honestly can't see how it could work worst than the NG. Mine was made in the same factory. Not sure if that's still the case. At the time it was an Audio Advisor exclusive. They just specified it to be made with with a lower aesthetic and maybe the needle bearing that spins the platter is worse. The stock RD needle bearing is on the smaller side, so the platter tends to wobble off it, especially when the vacuum is pulling it toward one side. KAB makes a replacement needle bearing that is much larger, so it's definitely not a reason to buy it, if you are just looking to get a vacuum RCM on the cheap.

This really isn't the case here. The used NG is actually $50 less than the new RD. The NG has features that RD doesn't. I has compartments to store fluid and the scrubbing brush. This might not be a huge advantage if you aren't going to use either fluid or the brush. But there isn't much downside to this, as you could use the bottle for another fluid and having an extra brush isn't the worst thing. I will state the velvet brush isn't that great for scrubbing. But it works fine if you're just pushing water around during a rinse cycle. The NG has a different record turner that you place over the label. It looks nicer than RD one, but I wouldn't say the RD one is unusable. It works fine, in fact I like having the finger dimples. I got a wooden dowel that was inserted into the dimple and often used it as handle so I wasn't always using my wrist to turn the record.

If it was me, I'd go NG. Just on price alone. If you are looking at this tier for an RCM, you're interesting in extreme value. I need something that's designed to vacuum records at the lowest price. The $150 NG beats the price of a new RD. I would guess the NG has a better needle bearing than the RD. Even if it didn't, you could just order the kit from KAB for the same upgrade. So no disadvantage to the NG there.

 

I have an RD built by NG. Essentially the same "guts" but the NG looks nicer as others said. Go for the NG!

 

I am probably repeating myself:

In my opinion, the NG and RD clean records exactly just as well. So, the only reasons to choose one vs the other is (1) price and (2) your reaction to cosmetic appearance.