There are no bad choices among the brands you listed, that's a high quality shortlist. Owners of each will sing its praises, probably rightly so.
If you can't audition them try to get your head into what makes each one special or different. These days that's all many of us can do. It's what I did and I ended up a happy Teres owner. Its mix of features, design and costs made sense to me, but only you can figure out which mix feels best to you.
There's plenty of used activity in VPI's and Michells, which is both a good and a bad thing. If you plan to buy used you should probably forget Teres. You could grow old waiting for one, we're too busy listening to consider selling them! Consider that my biased recommendation for the one I own. ;-) The same seems to be true of Nottingham BTW. At any rate it's the other brand on your list, along with Teres, that has no listings in the A'gon blue book.
One caution about the Scout (not Scoutmaster): many owners have found it necessary to add the SDS, a Walker speed controller or change motors to get consistent speed. I don't know if new Scouts do a better job but a used one might present you with an unexpected upgrade "opportunity". Worth looking into before choosing that model.
My grandfather was mayor of Royal Oak or Pleasant Ridge about 60 years ago. It still looked pretty good when I was there 40 years ago. If there's a good audio dealer there today then they must still be taking care of the place. Good to know.
If you can't audition them try to get your head into what makes each one special or different. These days that's all many of us can do. It's what I did and I ended up a happy Teres owner. Its mix of features, design and costs made sense to me, but only you can figure out which mix feels best to you.
There's plenty of used activity in VPI's and Michells, which is both a good and a bad thing. If you plan to buy used you should probably forget Teres. You could grow old waiting for one, we're too busy listening to consider selling them! Consider that my biased recommendation for the one I own. ;-) The same seems to be true of Nottingham BTW. At any rate it's the other brand on your list, along with Teres, that has no listings in the A'gon blue book.
One caution about the Scout (not Scoutmaster): many owners have found it necessary to add the SDS, a Walker speed controller or change motors to get consistent speed. I don't know if new Scouts do a better job but a used one might present you with an unexpected upgrade "opportunity". Worth looking into before choosing that model.
My grandfather was mayor of Royal Oak or Pleasant Ridge about 60 years ago. It still looked pretty good when I was there 40 years ago. If there's a good audio dealer there today then they must still be taking care of the place. Good to know.