Are the Nitty Gritty vacuum cleaners...

I've had my (fully automatic) Nitty Gritty 1.5 FI for 17 years. It's been serviced twice in that time, and still performs flawlessly as far as I'm concerned. It is a little noisy when you turn on the vacuum, but it's so powerful you only need to run it for 20 sec. or so.

The one caution, is to avoid cleaning solutions with more than 20% alcohol as they can ruin the pump and tank. I don't use alcohol-based solutions (anymore!) so for me that's a non issue.
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Well, I agree with Johnjbarlow's thinking, but not his conclusion.

The VPI 16.5 might be slightly better, but only if you don't wash the records by hand first. If you do, they work about the same, IMHO. In terms of how they vacuum clean, they work about the same. (In fact, with the NG, you have gravity working for you, not against you.)

A new VPI costs double the cost of a new NG, because the VPI has a motor for turning the platter, and it iis built more aesthetically pleasing, as it looks more like a piece of furniture, as opposed to the Nitty Gritty which is built rather cheaply. (Basically the NG is built out of pressboard.) However the NG's last for a long, long time. (I am the second owner of my NG 1.0, and I have used it for about 4 years, and the owner before me used it for years before that.)

Where I agree with Johnjbarlow is buying a RCM used. I bought my NG 1.0 used for $100, and I just bought a used Record Doctor used for $90. That brings the price down to 1/3 of the price of a used VPI, and it surely does almost as good a job, if not every bit as good.

Now, if you want a truly better RCM, go with the Loricraft, at only $2.5K. (Me?, I'm sticking with my NG until I have fully upgraded my system, and then, and only then, I'll leapfrog the VPI RCM's and get the Loricraft.)

My two cents worth anyway.

VPI,NITTY GRITTY,LOGICRAFT,CLEARAUDIO...They all suck!

Amazing that you can get a top quality washing machine for your clothes for less than the price of a wet record cleaner. Maybe it has to do with economies of scale, but oh my audiophiles can't accept that those also apply to audio equipment. Strange how people slice and dice reality to suit, no?

This has been discussed many times check here:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr_srch.pl?&1&procsrch&3&4&

I have had both the VPI 16.5 and a couple of different versions of Nitty Gritty. Record Dr., 1.5fi, 2.5 fi.
I prefer the Nitty Gritty. They suck down which IMO is preferable to vacuuming up as in VPI.

They are much smaller and more aesthetically pleasing. Sorry Kurt, VPI looks like something you would find in an industrial setting. Nitty Grittys fit on a normal size, 12" shelf and can be bought with a nice real wood grain finish.