recently got a new turntable - a Pro-Ject essential, had read good reviews on it and the price was reasonable so I went for it...

The fucking thing will not behave! It's on a flat surface, and even on brand new records it'll skip and shit itself from time to time. I'll adjust the counterweight to fix it, and then it'll go wrong on another record. Adjust, fix, another record, adjust, fix.

Have I got a duff unit, or am I just setting it up wrong? The anti-skating thing seems to do fuck all, too.