Good "Light Weight" Portable Gramophone models?

[Curt A]

The DECCA had a distinct design advantage - when the machine became outdated, the horn could be recycled and used as a toilet seat... also, handy in the trenches.

[Orthophonix]

For a compact machine with astonishing sound I would also recommend the Columbia 100. As said before it is very compact and readily usable. I really like these and do have four of them - two working, and two still waiting for restauration. It is a pleasure every time you play it to get such a rich sound from such a small "bread box". Here is one still for sale on ebay:
https://www.ebay.ch/itm/326877033226?_s ... BM3qzVh_tm
I was tempted with this machine end of last year, as it was offered for a much lower price, but decided, that I would hardly need five of them. I would make him an offer, as this one seems to be complete and original, it even looks as if it had its original soundbox 15B, which is rather rare. And it looks as if it could be restored with not too much effort.

But as the Columbia 100 looks sturdy in its metal case: it is not so much any more these days, as it has a lot of decaying, brittle pot metal parts: the tone arm base is pot metal and becomes wide and brittle, causing the tone arm to hang on the record in its joint as this process advances. Replacememt and repairs are difficult. And the proximal part of the tone arm is - at least in the "newer" ones - made of pot metal, too. The bearing in the base is however better in these newer ones, more stable. And while the body and back of the Columbia No. 15a soundbox is always entirely made of brass with nickel or chrome plating, the 15b used in the Columbia 100 is made entirely of pot metal, and this does not have the best quality. It can swell badly, the corpus even more than the back, and have grotesque shapes then before crumblig apart. If the back is not too bad it can be screwed to a No.15a brass body. If you use the back of the 15a soundbox, it does not fit nicely in its holder any more.
But having said that all, I still think a Columbia 100 is worth having and is a valuable, unique model.

Another light machine with nicely balanced and not too loud sound is the Paillard 301 or 302. It is definetely bigger in dimensions than the Columbia 100, but even lighter. It is a more sophisticated construction than it seems, and well executed, solid, without any pot metal. The metal part of its horn is rather short and the sound is lead through a bent cardboard piece, but as this does not read too good, it works really well.
The original soundbox of the 301 (Maestrophonic No.18) should be avoided, as it is rather quiet and I did not see one having good sound. Its needle pivots have a bearing in rubber or early plastic, and as this might have worked properly when new, it is now hardened and swollen and restrains the movement of the needle bar.
I have a Thorens 100 soundbox on my machine(s), which makes a good combination with well-balanced sound. It is a little less loud and maybe not as full as the Columbia 100.
But as these machines appear here in Switzerland from time to time and must have been rather common here, I am not sure, how frequent they were outside Switzerland. I have for example never seen one on ebay.co.uk...