Vinyl & Cartridge Cleaners

Congratulations on adding a turntable back into you life! For stylus cleaning, Doug Deacon's recommendation of using Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (original version) works well. See Doug's explanation and directions. Cost: about $2 for a lifetime supply.

For LP cleaning, Disc Doctor, Audio Intelligent and Walker Audio Prelude work very well. (Check with any of the mail order sources for pricing.) A vacuum record cleaning machine makes the process quicker, easier and somewhat more effective. Disc Doctor works well for manual cleaning if you have the patience. There are various home brew formulations using 10-20% isopropyl alcohol plus various other addtions. I've used the home brew in the past, but none of the formulations I've used work as well as any of the three commercial products listed. The multi-step formulations work better than any of the single step formulations.

Have fun!

Disk Doctor works great for me and it's not a lot of trouble. On clean, dry records I use a carbon fiber brush followed by a micro fiber cloth.

LAST stylus cleaner works well. Don't confuse it with Stylast from the same company. Depending on your cartridge, Stylast could gum it up. OTOH, I understand that LAST stylus cleaner is a pure cleaner.

Dave

The Magic Eraser and a dry brush is probably all the stylus cleaner you'll ever need, for next to no money. It's kept hundreds of cartridges as clean as new for over two years. Read the instructions Rushton linked to carefully, it's important to brush afterwards, just like eating! ;-)

AIVS makes a one-step cleaner that works pretty well. It's not as effective as their multi-step cleaners but it's way better than just dry brushing.

Vacuuming after wet cleaning is pretty important, otherwise you're just dissolving dirt and shoving it around. The least expensive purpose built machine is sold by KAB. It attaches to your existing household vacuum. DIY machines can be made for even less, though they're a bit slower to use. Do a search and you'll find hundreds of posts.

I built a rcm using a shop vac (29 dollars), old turntable from a deal i made on a record collection (10 dollars) and a strip of felt. I have experimented with several of the commercial cleaners except walkers (enzyme) and find a home made version works as well. lots of strings about diy homebrews or the commercial juice. both are pretty cheap in the long run. I do plan on trying the walker on a couple of records I really want to play but have too much gunk (stylus still picks up gunk after cleaning multiple times with a variety of cleaners)
A good brush and the vacuum are in my opinion, the best improvements in record cleaning. I have not used the walker brushes but can recommend the disk doctor brush. the microfibers do very good. Reminds me of my old discwasher i have used for 30 years. Good luck and keep spinning

For stylus cleaning, using Dougdeacon's recommmended process for employing the "Magic Eraser", try slitting the eraser vertically at 2-3mm intervals across its width.