If you expect to clean a lot of vinyl, you'll be glad if you have an RCM. In addition to your existing collection, there are lots of great buys on used LP's . . . so keep this in mind as rationale for the investment.
I brought out my old vinyl, and purchased a new 'table a few years ago after ~15 years of listening almost exclusively to CD's. Since I'm a real tightwad, I first tried to clean them by hand (I used an old broken turntable as a platform for my washing) . . . long story short, once I found I would get back into vinyl in a big way, and experienced what a pain in the butt manual cleaning is, I bought a RCM. I also found that the RCM did a much better job than I was doing by hand (though I confess, my hand wash method was probably not state of the art.
Your choice of RCM should depend more on how many LPs you expect to be cleaning. I initially bought a Nitty Gritty 1.1 which required manual rotation of the disk. It cleaned nicely, but when I started buying arm loads of LPs at my local used record shop I grew tired of the effort involved. I traded the NG in for a VPI 16.5 which is a pretty efficient machine and does an excellent job of cleaning. The NG machines can be found new and used for anywhere from $150 - $350 depending on the model. The VPI can be found used for $350 or so in excellent condition.
As for cleaning fluid, I make my own (remember, I'm a tightwad). Here's a link to the TNT Record Cleaning Site that has fluid recipes and other tips.
Search the archives and you'll find many opinions on best Fluids, and RCM's
I brought out my old vinyl, and purchased a new 'table a few years ago after ~15 years of listening almost exclusively to CD's. Since I'm a real tightwad, I first tried to clean them by hand (I used an old broken turntable as a platform for my washing) . . . long story short, once I found I would get back into vinyl in a big way, and experienced what a pain in the butt manual cleaning is, I bought a RCM. I also found that the RCM did a much better job than I was doing by hand (though I confess, my hand wash method was probably not state of the art.
Your choice of RCM should depend more on how many LPs you expect to be cleaning. I initially bought a Nitty Gritty 1.1 which required manual rotation of the disk. It cleaned nicely, but when I started buying arm loads of LPs at my local used record shop I grew tired of the effort involved. I traded the NG in for a VPI 16.5 which is a pretty efficient machine and does an excellent job of cleaning. The NG machines can be found new and used for anywhere from $150 - $350 depending on the model. The VPI can be found used for $350 or so in excellent condition.
As for cleaning fluid, I make my own (remember, I'm a tightwad). Here's a link to the TNT Record Cleaning Site that has fluid recipes and other tips.
Search the archives and you'll find many opinions on best Fluids, and RCM's