If the OP bought his MH from a local dealer they owe it to him to make his lemon right. I work for a Pro-Ject dealer and we handle cases like this when they come up. Pro-Ject models below $500.00 may be regarded by some audio snobs as junk, but all of them have very decent arm bearings with little play and low friction, and use quality leads and replaceable output cables. The Fluance table I have seen had lots of play in its bearings and Rega Planar 2 output cables are captive and utterly ordinary. For the OP I would suggest he take a look at the X-1, or take the DD route and go Pioneer.
how much should I spend to get a better turntable than my current turntable?
You want details hah!
I bet....
CURRENT: mmf-2.2. A lemon, a complete junk in my opinion. A disaster from the start. What I can I do with it? It was delivered with missing screws, the lift arm level broke in 3 months, all I got in the name of warranty a list of things not under warranty. I don't want to criticize the brand, maybe I just got unlucky, they are otherwise great.
What should I get for the littlest investment that would work better than this wobbly, squeaky thing?