ahhh the trusty 1210's (pats his) :D none of these fancy blue neons and +/- 40,0000 % pitch. just rock solid build quality and great performance.

ive heard that the vestax have a better sound quality which may be the case but as long as you have a quality pair of carts they are an excellent turntable.

you say 500-600 does this include a mixer too?

id really recomend saving till you have enough for 1210's and a good mixer as the decks will last you for years man.

but if you wanna keep to your budget id definetly go for a pair of citronic pd2's as ther the closest deck ive seen to a technics deck. a friend of mine orderd a pair a year or 2 ago and the build of them were rock solid and kept the beat very well.

mixer wise anything really, thers not a hell of a lot of differnce in the mid range selection. just make sure it has 3 band eq on each channel, and possibly get a 3 or moer channel mixer if u can afford it incase u decideto purchase cd player or 3rd deck etc in the future.

i got 2x 1210's and the pioneer djm500 for 1140 about 2 years ago, pretty decent mixer, vary rarely use the effects on it anymore, just delay a little when mixing techno but it is a good quality mixer with 4 channels.

vestax do a good range of 2-4 channel mixers and there top quality too maybe worth a look at.

hope thats some help :)