We here are all rightly ganging up on Matt, who is entitled to his opinion of course. But as to the OP, you’re absolutely right about the cheezy feel of the cueing mechanism on the current Technics line. I have an SL100C and it’s my only complaint with it. I just scored an SL1700 Mk2 in good shape to have a good secondary table with pitch control, and its electronic cueing mechanism is miles better than the new one. It also has a decoupled floating suspension, auto-return, on-the-fly VTA adjustment, and a die cast aluminum plinth. It might become my main table!
Technics SL-1300G Turntable issues
I recently purchased the Technics SL-1300G. I like the sound of the turntable. Unfortunately, I found the common complaint that the lift mechanism feels cheap. Additionally I found a perceived quality issue shown below. The silver bands on the top and bottom of the beveled platter edge vary in width by a mm+. In my opinion it makes the table look cheap, not the quality you would expect at the $3300 price tag. Note the gap between the platter and the plinth is uniform as the platter rotates. Would you return the TT hoping to get a platter with more uniform machining?