This review has ended up a lot longer than expected so I have tried to break it down into sub-categories for the purpose of attracting you to the most relevant information that you may wish to read about. If, at first glance, the sight of this review puts you off reading it, then jump straight to the CONCLUSION section at the end. Happy reading.

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Little bit of history for those who are interested...
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Technics were the people that bought to you the very first direct drive turntable in 1969. Direct drive turntables work by using magnetic forces to attract and repel the platter (also holding a large magnet). This was around the time where DJ Francis Grasso (New York) bought a revolutionary new style to DJing in clubs and pioneered the art of beatmixing. Beatmixing is the form of matching up the basic structure of two songs with the same beat pattern and playing both at the same time so that they 'blend' in with each other and which doesn't sound like two cars passing each other blaring out different songs which make it hard to listen to either one of them, let alone both. This style was soon adopted by every major DJ and replaced the old way of simply playing one tune after the other sometimes even with a small gap in-between. Sometimes they would only have the use of a single turntable. This is not very suitable for today’s type of clubs. The first direct drive turntable was the SP-10 and was only replaced ten years later with the SL-1200MK2 which was inspired by Technics in the way that their aim was to manufacture a turntable which was built not only for quality but durable enough to cope with sustained, heavy-duty use. This set the standard for direct drive turntables designed specifically for club environments and DJs who wanted to play a continuous flow of music without any gaps and be able to do this by changing the speeds of the records. Previous versions of turntables did not even have pitch control so you can imagine how difficult that would have been. The design of the 1210 has not changed noticeably since the 1200 series and only minor modifications are made in each new variation. These modifications are usually made as they are either considered essential or improve the functionality in a way that is beneficial to the user. Technics view is that they only need to make small adjustments as added 'perfections' to the already formidably popular and respected product.

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At first glance
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Lets take a little look over these babies to see what they could offer me before I started using them.
First off, the decks are a little heavier than most (almost dropped them after a mis-judged snatch out of the box). This helps with preventing the needle from skipping and jumping across the record when vibrations from the speakers, dance floor or even knocks from a bedroom door slamming could cause the needle to come out of the groove in the vinyl and fall back into the next or previous groove representing another part of the song. This, together with the anti-skating control and the tone-arm adjustable balance and height ability, makes for a very steady needle that will take a lot of punishment before even thinking about jumping. Technics felt that full vibration proof measures needed to be taken into account when designing turntables meant for DJing and have achieved this aim extremely well. The base of each turntable incorporates a mixture of ultra-heavy rubber and die cast aluminium. This obviously explains the added weight and why the needles stick to the record like glue, though there is another purpose. This being that feedback and distortion (caused by vibrations and the general atmosphere) are decreased meaning a more clearer sound is achieved with a crisper and more punchy bass at the lower spectrum of the sound output and a less 'tinny' treble at the higher range. The other aspect of the measures taken to provide a solid, stable setting is a large insulator (partly provided by the rubber basing), which serves to block floor vibrations, and stop them before they reach the tone-arm and ultimately, the needle on the record. Technics even attached the lids to the turntables onto the rubber basing which meant that if they ever slammed down onto the deck (not that likely since they are held up by springs and not many people keep the lids on anyway, especially in clubs) the vibrations would be kept at bay. There are products which you can buy which act as shock absorbers and look like car air-bags but I can assure you that you will not require them and I would only consider them if the turntables are placed on VERY unstable or wonky surfaces.

The design and layout of the tone-arm and its settings meant that a zero-gravity balance could be achieved for perfect alignment of the needle against the record. This, in conjunction with the anti-skate setting and the fact that the needle's angle against the tone arm could be easily modified, meant that rotational resistance could be kept to a minimum. in turn, this improves skipping of the needle and wear-and-tear on the vinyl.

- There is a light situated on the power button which beams onto the platter. The platter contains 4 rows of solid dots which vary in size and distance apart. I have not quite got the grips of using them to my advantage yet but they can hold a major indication as to factors such as the correct speed of the record playing and can be used to trouble shoot the pitch control. it can be used in this way since the position of the dots will form an optical illusion which moves either backwards or forwards depending on the current speed on the pitch control. When the pitch control is set to zero, these row of dots second from the bottom should be visible and stay stationary. Move the pitch slider up (increase the speed) and the dots should start moving in the same direction that the record is playing. Move the pitch slider below zero (decrease the speed) and the dots should again start to move but this time in the opposite direction to way the record plays. if your turntable does not follow this procedure then they may need adjusting to reset the 'true-zero' value.
- There is also a light set at the front of the deck next to the platter which provides and invaluable glow which can be used to pick out certain parts of the vinyl while it is playing and generally help you out when playing somewhere dark! These lights can be changed and there are kits for about £20 each which will change the standard orange glow to a more brighter electric blue or red. Fantastic.

Spinbacks/pullbacks/REWiND!!
Crafted originally by the Jamaicans who used it together with an echo chamber to create a noise that would hopefully fill the time in which it took them to put another record on, it involves spinning a record quickly in the opposite direction to which it is playing. These are very easy to perform on the 1210 and will keep the needle stuck to the record unlike other brands which can send the needle flying up in the air.

Durability
I have had these for almost four years now and they have never failed to play a record. Not that much of a bold claim but they have been used every single day for at least an hour. There are no dents, scratches or otherwise fatal (or even temporal) signs of damage. I met a record collector once who had one (he didn't need two as he was not interested in DJing but bought the 1210 simply because he understood it to be the top of the range turntable) for fifteen years and it still looks in the same condition as mine which are not eve four years old.

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Extra design feature!!
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one point which I wanted to bring up but was not sure where in the review to place it is the fact that you can replace the standard covering of the deck (not the lid, the actual plate that sits on top of everything) with almost any colour or design imaginable. A friend of mine sent his covers off to a company who sprayed them exactly to the design and colours that he wished for. Gold plated and mirrored covering are amongst the favourites and I am on the lookout for a see-through covering! Although this may not ever be available as the materials still need to be fairly strong. Look out for the limited edition Technics 1210 which are gold plated on most parts of the deck!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

Technics 1210 will continue to be the most implemented DJ turntable for as long as people keep making vinyl records.