When I changed the cartridge on my turntable for a Goldring E3 I also positioned an electronic tally counter nearby to monitor usage.
Paloma Faiths “The Architect” was the 200th side to be played. At 20 minutes per side that approximates to 67 hours of playback so far.
Using a tally counter might seem a bit OCD, but do you know how much wear is on your stylus? I didn’t have a clue how many hours were on my old Goldring 1010. It sounded ok to my ears, but was it chewing my records? I ended up changing it just to be safe. Not wanting to be in the same position again I bought a cheap ( £1.09 eBay) tally counter and stuck it under my turntable. I quickly got into the habit of clicking it as i flicked the cue lever down. Maybe I forget occasionally. Maybe my estimate of 20 minutes per side is a bit off. I still recon it’s giving me a pretty good estimate of needle time to within 10% or so.
Update: On 15th February 2018 hit the 300 sides mark. This time with Blue Oyster Cult. That’s about 100 hours in five months.