I currently have three turntables, but have owned a good bushelful of them. Explored belt, direct, and idler drives. The three tables I have are
SOTA Cosmos Eclipse
Scheu Analog Das Laufwerk No 2
Denon DP80
The Sota is my benchmark. What I looked at are as follows
Motor quality and control, the AC motor and Phoenix Engineering controls are as good as you get for sane money
Quality of main bearing. The new magnetic system works fabulously.
The quality of the sub chassis. This is in conjunction with a well executed suspension.
The Scheu was bought because it has a high mass, and that type of table presents music a bit differently than a suspended one. The combination of materials is well thought out. The design allows for two arms. The motor control works, but is not as good as the Sota. I might think about fitting it with the Phoenix Engineering controller.
The Denon DP80 is a fun project. This is one of the better direct drive tables. I believe in the split platter for isolation. The coreless motor seems to be the best implementation of the design. I like the ease of use.
Each table has different arms. The Sota an Origin Live Agile. The Scheu has 10 and 12 inch Audiomods Series 6. The Denon will be paired with a Dynavector DV 505.