I’d like to get portable record player – or suitcase turntable – for my collegiate niece. Are there any good ones?
no… To be completely honest…
(of those i have heard, most deserve to be used as landfill…)
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That’s my impression, but it’s not a sector I’m very familiar with.
But, of course, theres always the DJ way of hauling around an SL-1200 in a pro suitcase? Not sure about the desired portability though?
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Pay for a Spotify subscription for her, buy her a decent set of headphones, and buy her a nice turntable as a College graduation present. 
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This is not a “good” player but it’s very cool
If you can find one. I believe they were very limited.
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Cool, but already sold out.
It tends to be the cartridge on most of these things that cause the most damage.
I think Lenco does one with an AT cartridge which at least won’t wreck the vinyl. For a bedroom system im sure it would sound ok. Let’s face it most of us probably started with mono AM.
Buy her a Bluetooth speaker & Tidal sub , she must have a phone 
Vinyl is overkill ?
What’s the rationale behind choosing to give your niece a record player? If there was one piece of kit that’s likely to be wrecked in college it would have to be a record player or the records. Your niece might take care but there’s no accounting for her fellow students and friends. Vinyl is not that cheap to buy either and not portable friendly. So there’s probably background to your question that makes all the above meaningless. Regardless I wish you well with your search.
I want to play some records.
No you don’t because I don’t see the point.
Ok I won’t bother then.
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I would never use one.
They will not be kind to whatever records are played on them especially if a better record player is a consideration later on.
Vinyl is overkill? Mike, have you ever met a woman? Vinyl is fashion, much like VU meters or tube amps. This is not about functionality.
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Not me , I started with a thorens TD150 ,then a linn LP12, then the SME 20 I still have.
My 15 year old daughter has a whole bunch of Harry Styles albums - picture disks, coloured vinyl, and so on. She also has a portable record player. I have rarely heard her play any of them, but she does enjoy owning them. I’m not sure I’d call it ‘fashion’ but, as you mentioned, it certainly has nothing to do with functionality.
I was probably wrong to imply that this was gender-specific. Maybe it’s more of a GenZ cultural practice that one pursues in order to testify to your membership in the tribe.
What about the new IKEA one. Not portable as such, but super compact, lightweight and comes with a proper cart that won’t wreck the vinyl.
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I was thinking along those lines also, and have triedd one myself. The built in phono stage is pretty decent actually, and the thing sounds okey to be honest.
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I saw a YouTube video of the sound burger with a pitch stability test. I was really quite surprised, it had almost perfect pitch stability. Far in excess of what you’d expect from what it is