Are Dual turntables any good?

Not sure if anyone reading is actually interested in these minutiae but, I still have a CS-5000 too, and yeah, and when I first got it those crazy feet took a while to figure out! Not user friendly until you get the concept, but they make sense from a design standpoint, in a German kind of way. I still don't know what the red slider things do....

The only plastic is in the headshell assembly (not the tonearm) to keep weight down, since it incorporates a Vertical Tracking Angle adjuster, which would be too heavy even in aluminum. I considered removing the adjuster and just using the barebones headshell, but I think the inherent value of good VTA far exceeds whatever would be accomplished by removing excess plastic.

The other plastic part I was referring to is the cover at the base of the tonearm which appears to be aluminum but is actually plastic.

Just bought a 1257 with QLM 32 MK111 cartridge. Any comments? I remember my audiophile cousin had a Dual when I was a kid and I marveled at it. So simple yet it really had a pristine, sweet sound. Then he was drafted, but he sent $ home to have his family purchase LPs.
I purchased the 1257 to play the beat up Lps I pick up at Goodwill. (Just got 4 old Cal Tjader LPs in horrible shape, but the covers are too cool). It sounds pretty good. Any info/comments about this table and cart would be appreciated.

I have passed them up for real cheap $10., would not even want one for that price!
All plastic, even the internal moving parts.
Very overrated in my opinion, a Thorens will step all over Dual.

what cartridge and stylus are the best for the dual 1218?? thanx dan ryan