Anyone use auto lifters? Opinions

I have an old Thorens lift which are being sold under the Q-up name now.  I've had it for years and moved it from table to table.  It can be height adjusted.  Cost is around $50.  I can't go without now.  

I too am getting lazy in my old age.

Has anyone ever affixed the Q-Up using BlueTac so as to not have any residue left on the plinth, when moving to another table?

I don’t use them. But I have a friend who uses the AT Safety Raiser. He bought one when it first came out and it works like a charm.

AT safety raiser works great. Takes a few tries to get it placed perfectly 

Auto lift and return is an important feature to me, so I bought and restored a vintage semi-auto turntable. I don’t understand why the feature is not available on new turntables any more. 

Thanx for the help. It seems like the AT unit gets the best reviews. It is also pricey at $129 amazon prime. The Qup is rather large and certainly will not fit on my SOTA. It might on the SME but I tend to us the SOTA more.There are several versions of the AT lift from a cheaper Chinese version to the Little Fwend which is almost twice the price. Has anybody used the Expressimo Audio lifter? I love the simplicity of design and it looks like it will fit anywhere. It goes for $100.  

Sleepwalker65, the audiophile community shunned automated tonearms thinking that the mechanisms would cause a deterioration in sound quality. Plus many audiophiles want to mix and match tonearms and tables making mechanized tonearms impossible. Stacking records was considered an absolute no no. I think an automated turntable with excellent performance could be done but the market just is not big enough to support it. All those folks interested in convenience are just streaming and have no interest in vinyl. But we know better:) 

Greetings.  I too have used the Q-up with good results. The product works as advertised.

I have since installed the more visually appealing Tru-Lift,  which can be finicky, depending on the run out of the record,  but lifts 98% of the time.There is a sensitivity adjustment - alas - 100% is not achievable.

Pricey it may be,  but it looks great on my TT.  Cheers.

Mijostyn I have a Technics SL-1700mk2, which doesn’t engage the arm return motor until an optical sensor triggers it. It’s like having your cake and eating it too. Because the system is not physically in contact with the arm pivot while a record is playing, it has no negative impact. And I said semi-automatic, which is only arm return and platter motor shutoff at end of play. Record  changers  like those old BSR units with crappy ceramic cartridges are taboo. 

Sleepwalker, Dual made some pretty fine automated turntables. You could put any cartridge you liked in them. The optical trip is very cool. You could imagine a lift designed around an optical sensor but it would be expensive.
Guys, thanks for joining in. I pulled the trigger and ordered an Expressimo. If the Q-up would have fit on my table I would have ordered that. I will report back on it. May be junk. I love living life dangerously.

if you've got the cash and the desire for something pretty - 

google "Tru-Lift-Tonearm-Lifter"

Tru-Lift appears to be the exact same thing as the Audio Technica AT6006R though, only at twice the price.

I did have a lift in the early 80s. It was the same type of mechanism as the Tru Lift. After several years of use the trip wire slot wore to the point that the thing would trip itself intermittently. I would suppose that problem has been designed out by now. 

My first Safety Raiser(AT6006) lasted 30+ years, before it began lifting too quickly(too speedily/not prematurely). That’s a lot of years, in which I enjoyed end-of-record-peace-of-mind, via it’s very gentle lifting habits. Not bad for the $19.95 that I paid, back in 1980. I quickly found a couple NOS/NIB Raisers, for which I(gladly) paid $120 each(2012’s price).  Once properly adjusted, I've found mine 100% reliable.    Now, Audio-Technica has re-released the piece(AT6006R), sans the lock-down wire of the old(no big loss), probably now made in China, with a higher price(of course). https://www.audio-technica.com/cms/accessories/398e4995e9bfe926/index.html

@mijostyn the lift designed around an optical sensor is reality, and it came at a premium on the Technics SL-1700mk2 and SL-1600mk2 turntables. Those were essentially the thinking man’s / audiophile’s variant of the SL-1200mk2 that rap-“DJ”s are so enamoured with. 

Thrulift is an excellent lift it’s gentle and well thought out.  On lighter tonearms like the Triplanar U12 it’s excellent. The original AudioTechnica 6061 is a little more coarse in its operation - on a heavier tonearm like the Kuzma 4P 14 it works flawlessly.

good Listening 

peter 

I've been using a modified Expressimo The Lift.  Does the job, although it makes a little clunk as it contacts the tonearm.  I like that it has no springs, just a weight.  As with most others, correct placement is important.

I use two different tonearm lifts. The Q-Up is the better of the two which I've used for well over a decade. I do not have a Safety Raiser, but admittedly it looks better. But it also looks harder to position. On my Rega P5, the Q-Up matches pretty well with aesthetically. But the P5 is unique looking with being mostly black with a silver tonearm. The advantage of the Q-Up is that it slides, so it's very easy to make final adjustments where within the run out the the tonearm lifts. I don't think this is a huge advantage over the Safety Raiser, but it is easier. The Q-Up also has a few adjustments to the trigger and the lift speed.

There are two versions of The Lift (a product from Express Machining in San Jose, the guy who makes the Rega upgrade parts) listed on USAM right now, one chrome one black.

@rjamilla- Yeah, the Safety Raiser can be a pain to position, far as holding the height you want, then trying to set the horizontal while tightening the screw. I stretched a tiny O-ring around the body, to hold the vertical adjustment, which massively simplified the procedure. It was a snap to set, after that. Never have had to readjust one and it’s very gentle habits, have been most comforting, given the low mass and seeming delicacy of my Magnepan Unitrac I. It would be hard to trust another design, after so many years of reliable service.

Sleepwalker, I meant a stand alone optical lift you could use on any turntable. 
Jameswei, I see on the internet people put a little strip of the soft side of Velcro on the arm where it contacts the tonearm. I would think that would get rid of the "clunk." I shall see as I ordered one off their web site.

Yes, adding the velcro strip was one of the modifications I made.

I will certainly do that but I am a little mift. I have not heard anything from the Expressimo web site regarding my purchase. These lift are only available now from this web site. I used Paypal to pay for it so I am protected.I have not had even a confirmation of the sale which is a little unusual now a days.

The Tru Lift is a nightmare.  Needs tweeked every couple of days.  Raises on it’s own, pushes my $5,000 stylus across records.  Just ordered the Audio Technica.

Agree, I got mine to work but it was too violent making a loud noise even with the felt strips applied. I also got the Audio Technica lift. It too was not without problems. The anti skate would slowly pull the tonearm off the lifting platform with obvious results. I took a Dremel tool and created a slight depression in the platform just in front of the shaft. That cured the issue permanently. Couldn't be happier. 

Have both the Tru- lift and the Little Fvend.
the latter works flawlessly for years now with my VPI prime. I tried the Trulift with two different TT and arm/cartridge but can’t make it work
arms bounce off of it like they hit a wall even at softest setting

@sancho22, @sm - I had the exact same experience.

OP - Little Fwend is the top tier lifter on the market today and yes - its pricey for what it does.  But.., well worth it and come in two sizes, so should fit most turntables.

The problem for the Little Fwend is the Audio Technica works just as well, comes with a complete set of spacers, one size fits all and costs 1/2 as much. The little Fwend is better looking.
@sancho22 , Is the trigger mechanism of the Little Fwend controlled by a magnet and not just spring loaded?

Not sure what 

Not sure what the mechanism is but I think it is very similar 
both were derived from the original AT lifter mentioned here. According to the Tru- Lift designer the biggest difference is in lifting capacity : about 3x (15g) for the Tru Lift
there is a thread on the VPI forum
i think I will try the relaunched AT next

Thus far: no reason to doubt I'll get another 30 years of faithful/gentle service, out of my second Safety Raiser (AT6006/original 80's version).       

The mechanism of the LF is spring loaded.

Really!  The AT has a little neodymium magnet opposed to the trigger. At the proximal end of the trigger is just a little loop that catches a pin. The magnet pulls the trigger into the slot when you cock it. Much more reliable than a spring loaded trigger.