What stringing machine should I get for under 2000$?

[kkm]

An awl for stringing in modern thin walled racquets is not a good idea

It is much better to use a hook to get 2 strings through a double hole.

Something like this

How many racquets have you strung and had big problems from using an awl? I have never had such an issue.
The hook can be very useful for badminton shared holes or for other similar situations, but it will not magically make a hole that is barely wide enough to take one string suddenly take two strings. The hook can help with angles, but it cannot help with insufficient width.

 

[jim e]

^ You think that will get him off the hook?

 

[diredesire]

I come back to TT after an unintended hiatus (life) and you’re still around DD, good to see ya!

I’ve been in my own little rural world so I’m not quite up to date on current models of stringers, but with 15 years and 10s of 1000s of racquets strung (not hyperbole, I guesstimate 10,000 racquets isn’t a stretch) at the amateur - pro level, my Alpha Revo 4K hasn’t failed once and I’ve just done general maintenance on it (grease on the joints and clean the clamps and recalibrate the tension head a couple times a year).

So this somehow old codger in the stringing world (I’m only in my mid 30s) says get a quality LO tension head and take care of it, which you can upgrade to a Wise or something if the like down the road.

Yo - how's it going? I took my own break of a long, long while too I'm only recently "still around!"

That's a lot of frames and a lot of hours on that machine!