Seems HS is the only one that carries it at this time.
I used to own a Vestax Handy Trax, but it only lasted a few years and was virtually worthless as a portable player because of the tiny speaker's low volume. (Worked very well through external stereo speakers, though.)
Only problem I see with the HS model is that it doesn't seem to have a tone control.
would someone answer a question I've had for a while about these newer players that seem to use one needle/stylus for all records - 33, 45 and 78... does playing non-vinyl (the older 78's) at all damage the stylus or wear it out faster? and does regularly playing those 78's interchangeably with later vinyls (45's and 33's) result in any adverse effects on the vinyl (because of an overly work or damaged stylus)?
brianu wrote:would someone answer a question I've had for a while about these newer players that seem to use one needle/stylus for all records - 33, 45 and 78... does playing non-vinyl (the older 78's) at all damage the stylus or wear it out faster? and does regularly playing those 78's interchangeably with later vinyls (45's and 33's) result in any adverse effects on the vinyl (because of an overly work or damaged stylus)?
There is also a 78 stylus available for the portable Vestax and Numark phonographs.
Normally, the one size fits all stylus does a poor job on most 78s, and as you noted, "wear-in" would probably be an issue. When I got my Vestax a few years ago, I ordered it along with the special 78 stylus.
This begs the question of the modern manufacturers -- what is so DAMN hard about producing a simple flip-over stylus?
...along that line, 44 reads so far, and not one word about the portable, itself...
[quote="Ortho_Fan...along that line, 44 reads so far, and not one word about the portable, itself...[/quote]
OK, I'll give ya MORE than one word about the portable. Two birthdays ago my brother gave me one of the Crosley replica radio phonographs(I like the British "radiogram" term so much better). This unit has a "paprika" finish. One thing I notice on many of these replicas is that the basic turntable mechanism is the same one in almost all of them, be they labeled Crosley, Thomas, Teac, or the one you give as an example. They all have exactly the same tonearm & cartridge, so they're obviously sourced from the same manufacturer. Anyone know who that might be? Now I'm not quite so paranoid about playing Lps on these units as are some audiophiles who rant about what terrible damage will occur to a 180 gram pressing if played on one. The Columbia/Philco Lp player of 1948 put a heckuva lot more tracking pressure on an Lp groove than these replicas do, & I have many early classical Masterworks Lps that don't sound too bad for their age. So I don't sweat the wear issue on 1940s/1950s mono Lps(yes I know they play in stereo). I haven't bought a 78 stylus for mine yet, but I did briefly play a vinyl Les Paul 78 on Capitol-they will do the job for the Great Unwashed, if the proper 78 stylus is gotten. I use mine occasionally for records, just to run it a bit-hauled it to my sister's last Christmas to play old Christmas Lps during the dinner.
But I have so many record players here I always have a choice for having some "vintage" listening sessions-& the Crosley isn't at the top of the list:) Actually it sits atop a 1920s records cabinet in the family room loft & I make far more use of the FM radio in it when I am working on the collection. Cataloging records with Excel entries seems infinite. I have a pair of 1950s Motorola suitcase phonos that I use with 78s & Lps, too, as well as two Newcombs, a big Califone, a Credenza, a pair of VV-10s, a late VV-XVI, & a Brunswick 106 portable.
I picked up a Numark PT-01 at the Goodwill for $6.99, minus the cover. All seems to work, except the belt has stretched & for the life of me I can't figure out how to properly install a new one without it just falling out from the bottom of the platter. The Numark seems like a good portable unit to carry along in the car for testing the latest 78 haul. Again, the tonearm seems identical to the replicas we are mentioning.
Hmmm. As I look at pictures of the different replicas, Numark, Vestax portables it seems the tonearms aren't all quite exactly the same, but the cartridges seem to be. So I self-correct my observations here
I don't know who the OEM of the mechanism is either.
Most all of these kinds of players use a ceramic cartridge....overall, think a flimsy version of one of those lower-end BSR turntables of 35-odd years ago. And even more horrifying, some of these awful things are even used in machines designed to transfer records to CDs.... So there will be quite a few home-brew CDRs from records, made with these things, that only remind people how bad they remember their records sounding, as they now have a new machine as bad as what they had long ago.
Or as I once described it, a piece of schlemmer fit only for taking a hammacher to!
Viva-Tonal wrote:
Or as I once described it, a piece of schlemmer fit only for taking a hammacher to!
Ha! Well put!
I personally have found many of the gimmicky gadgets from HS to be best suited for entertaining reading from the SkyMall magazine while on a long flight... Many of the electronic offerings are frequently no name and overpriced.
I cannot speak to this particular turntable, but just sharing my general observations in terms of previous electronic offerings. I do realize YMMV...
I have the Numark version of this (PT-01), which seems to be popular at the jazz and phono/record shows to listen to 78s before buying. It was merely adequate for the task for the first month or two, then stopped working (i.e. turntable stopped turning), so I gave up. I refuse to buy another piece of crap like this one (at least at list price).
I bought a dedicated 3 mil 78 stylus from Garage-A-Records at the time, and (when not at the shows) could hook it up to my iPod docking station for okay sound (and it had a pitch control). But the volume on the unit itself was very low.
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And even more horrifying, some of these awful things are even used in machines designed to transfer records to CDs.... 
So there will be quite a few home-brew CDRs from records, made with these things, that only remind people how bad they remember their records sounding, as they now have a new machine as bad as what they had long ago.
Well put! 
