How long does a stylus last?

Nowadays, does anyone ever use a microscope to examine a stylus? I recall pictures of diamond stylii with a couple of hundred hours on them showing obvious wear. Perhaps the line contact stylus wears less, but by the same token would degrade more with wear. 1000 hours used to be considered a reasonable maximum.

Ecclectique...Because your observations are based on inspection with a microscope, I tend to believe you. The wear that I recall seeing was with less than the 5 gram VTF that Elizabeth suggests.

For reasons I suggest, (1) line contact stylus. (2) lower tracking force..1.5 gram or less. (3) Low stylus mass MC. (4) Very clean LPs.

Hey! This is good news for a change.

Marakanetz...Hey! Neat idea for a stylus odometer. All you would really need is a timer (such as commonly used on machinery) wired up to the TT motor. Cost would be about $15, but with Cryo treatment it would sell to the vinyl crowd for $200 easy :-)