Tenor Ukulele

I've been looking recently at buying a tenor cutaway ukulele, and I've narrowed my options down to the Mahalo Java Tenor and the Ortega RU5CE-TE Electro. Has anyone bought either of these and had a good experience?

Links:

Mahalo Java Tenor https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Mahalo-Java-Tenor-Electro-Ukulele-Natural-Cutaway/3IVR

Ortega RU5CE-TE Electro https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Ortega-RU5CE-TE-Electro-Ukulele-Natural/1KR2

Thanks!

I am also looking for suggestions.

I have zero experience with either brand and yet I’m going to act like I know. That’s a low price for a tenor uke with a pickup, let alone a cutaway and open, pain in the neck headstock. It will probably be worth around what you pay for it and have minimal resale value. You’re gambling that you’ll get one that’s setup well, because it looks like that vendor doesn’t do that. If it were my money I would probably drop it on one of the Chinese vendors known to provide instruments that arrive setup well, such as Enya, Kmise, etc. Flight may make something in that price range as well. But it’s not a life or death decision. Check those other brands and see what you think.

MattHAU, where are you located? It looks as if the links are from UK sites, and I would recommend looking at mimsukes.com -- but I don't see that she ships outside the U.S.

And considering Mahalo vs. Ortega, what I've read and played would side with the Ortega. (My first uke was a Mahalo soprano, but that was about 14 years ago; and once I played an Ortega in a store.)

Limiting your choice to a cutaway will . . . well, limit your choices.

If you are buying from UK, may be you should consider buying directly from ukulele stores like SUS, Duke of Ukes, World of Ukes or the Uke Room. They would know how to QC the ukes much better.

Given your budget, I would lean towards a Kala KA-TE-C, or Cordoba 15TM-CE.

I bought a solid cocobolo Cutaway tenor from Cocobolo Ukuleles. It's a bit thinner than their standard tenor. Sounds great acoustic or with the MiSi pickup plugged in. I like the side sound port a lot. Unlike the standard tenor, the cutaway came with Grover chromed open gear tuners. (Ears.)

They may sell direct to the UK, but I have no idea what the VAT & Import duties would be. DHL is the shipper they use. It cost $110 USD when I bought it in 2019.

If you like Pono Ukes, their cutaways are very nice. But I think only their PC models offer a cutaway version. They're pricey compared to the Mahalo or the Ortega.

The Pono PC models, even used, are way more in price than the OP is looking at right now. I have a beautiful Pono ATC-PC cutaway, and it was not cheap. Nor was my Cocobolo tenor. I'd like to support the advice that you buy from a uke shop in your country who will assure a proper set-up, rather than buying from some of the sources you linked to. Chenx2 listed some good sources in the UK. There is also the Southern Ukulele Store. An inexpensive uke will often need a going-over to assure that all issues are resolved and it's playable before you get it. It's not worth saving a few bucks to have an unchecked instrument directly from the manufacturer arrive at your door. This is especially important with the lower priced instruments, imo.