also what is the difference between the 1200's and the 1210's? was thinking of getting 1200's but have been told that there is a considerable difference between the two?
Ok, here's the run down:
1200 Mk2: sold in the US as black or silver. Sold in Europe in silver only.
1210 Mk2: not originally available in the US. Sold in Europe in black only.
1200 M3D: silver, same as Mk2 except it has a "pitch reset" button that locks the pitch at 0% regardless of the fader's position. No click in the fader. Pretty rare.
1210 M3D: same as above but black, a lot more common.
Both M3D versions were discontinued when the Mk5 went into production.
1200 Mk5: silver, basically the same as M3D except the anti-skate range was increased and the target light uses an LED.
1210 Mk5: same as above but black.
1210 M5G: similar to Mk5, gloss piano black only, has a selectable 8% or 16% pitch range
1200 Mk6: silver, similar to Mk5 with minor differences.
1200 Mk6K1: as above but in black
There are a few other minor versions but I won't go into those. The Mk2 and Mk5 versions are the most common these days. I've heard that the Mk5 will be discontinued in favour of the Mk6, this may be the source of the rumours.