Need help picking budget Turntable

But the Projects don't come with Rega arms. Man, this advice site is clear as mud to the prospective buyer: flip a coin, a twelve-sided coin! You're right about the Sorbothane mat, 4Yanx, it only works well on glass platters as far as my experience goes, but here it shines. And jeez, what's a Mystic Mat? I don't even know what Herbie's mat is yet! I'm going back to my matless Maplenoll! Someone's gotta make a list of the different mats and the types of platters they work with. And I thought French was complicated.

Used Rega planar 3 with a new super bias or elys cartridge. The planar 3 will resell for what it costs you if the need ever arises. There really is nothing to go wrong, so used is as good as new.

If you can afford the elys cartridge then the 3 point mounting means you don't need any tools other than the supplied allen key. The super bias is a bit cheaper and a bit trickier to mount since it only has two mounting points.

couldn't be simpler, and sounds pretty good too.

Johnnantais, Just hoping I did not scare you back to playing shellac 78's on an RCA Victrola.
Herbie's turntable mat is made of open-cell silicone foam.
Actually, if you enter Herbie's Audio Lab in the Google search box, you will be transported into the world of damping, away from this present world of strife, and hard knocks. Anything the site fails to make perfectly clear, can be clarified by telephone call to the number provided.
He has specific knowledge about use on your turntable choices, and he will speak to any potential customer, ignorant of technology though we may be.

Listener57, I'm nervous, but I'm getting over it thanks to my mat-less Maplenoll! Thanks for the info, I'll check into the site. Oh, uhhh...and I vote for the P3....again. Of course, I hear those old RCA Victrolas were pretty good, and the needles are the cheapest.

OK johannantais, my opinion on the 250 was researched right here on this site. TWL has supported the two bearing hypothesis. Hypothesis because it has not been proven empirically yet. My test on my P3 was with a modded 250 with 2extreme endstub from Express Machining with their heavyweight. The 300 had the stock endstub but the heavyweight. I did not re-wire them for the listening sessions I did. They were both played on a P3 with the same music. I have since gone to the F2 titanium counterweight by Kerry. Interesting because the counterweight after set-up was much closer to the bearings than the heavyweight. Probably difference in mass? Anyway to my ears the 250 sounded better.