Okay. I got my Studebaker today and cleaned 5 records. First up was a copy of Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - Midnight Band. This is one of my most recent vinyl purchases and I've spun it quite a few times so i'm most familiar with it. It had moderate surface noise at its worst but was never totally clear. After cleaning it it was left with a few pops but the surface noise was gone. I was impressed.
Next up was Blue Mitchell - African Violet. I bought this for $1 and only listed to it once because it was so noisy. I actually thought I threw it out. After a cleaning it sounded new. It had a couple pops but all of side one it maybe totaled half a dozen. Very impressed.
Third was my copy of Donald Bailey - So In Love. This is his harmonica album. When I won this on eBay maybe 10 years ago was listed as VG and arrived with a split and stained jacket and was unlistenable. Literally, I tried listening to it and put it away before the first song So In Love was halfway over. I only kept it because it is kinda rare and I have a rip someone gave me to listen to. Anyway, this has the most noise after cleaning but it is nothing like before. Its unbelievable how well it sounds compared to what it was. After playing both sides it was quiet with small surface noise mainly in the quieter passages and some click and pops through out. I think if I give it another spin in the Studebaker it may clean it the rest of the way. A really fun record.
I've also cleaned Louis Armstrong - Satchmo Plays King Oliver and Vinny Golia - Solo which was so bad I tried to clean it with wood glue to some very limited success (I spent more on wood glue than the record by a lot). Will try to give those a spin tonight.
But my initial opinion is for $30 this is impressive. Simple to use, fairly quick and an easy clean up. I dumped the water after cleaning these records into a clean bowl and there was noticeable tan coloration in the bowl. My vinyl collection is fairly limited (maybe 50 total records) and buy second hand almost exclusively. For the time being this appears to be the ideal cleaning set up for my space/needs.