I thought a typical stylus lasts about 2000 hours and it usually outlasts the suspension. Is this not case?
I could be wrong as I'm going by long term memory. I looked around the net, and Shure says about 1000 hours, and people were saying 500 hours or more on VinylEngine. I think some times they used to have timers that went to 999 hours from what I can remember. They're aren't all the dealers like we had in the vinyl only days, that used to have a good microscope to check to see how it actually was worn. I wonder were those good microscopes went? They might be in storage somewhere being wasted, or in someones collections that knew better than myself. Links to what I found.
http://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?t=24807
http://shure.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4135/~/stylus-wear-and-record-wear