This "famous maker" OM was a coveted, medium level, standard half-inch cartridge supplied as original equipment on finer turntables. Sure you can get cheaper entry-level cartridges, but the great thing we love about this cartridge is that you can 'try out' the elliptical sound with an elliptical stylus, then later, if you so choose, you can upgrade just the needle to any quality level found in our 'Related Products" section at the bottom of this page. This will effectively upgrade you to a 'hybrid' type "OM10", "OM20", "OM30" or "OM40" and is particularly easy to do since the needle slides onto the front of the cartridge. We inspect and pack it here at TurntableNeedles.com in our snap box with extra foam protection along with our mounting hardware valued at $7.