The generally accepted advice is to purchase the most expensive one you can afford, bearing in mind that about 50% of your budget will eventually go toward tooling and accessories.

Most mini-lathes come from the same factory and in a wide variety of tolerances. The high end resellers insist on close specifications and better components, the low end sellers use the cheapest bits they can source.

Therefore the reason for the great price disparity is quality. They look identical but the more expensive machines have better tolerances, higher quality bearings, properly aged castings and greater accuracy including spindle concentricity. You can buy a low price lathe but then spend many hours and money on improving it which is good if you want to learn about the lathe but not so good if you want to do actual work with it.

If you have a choice get a 7x14 rather than a 7x12 as most stock purchased online comes in 12 inch lengths.

Here in North America I run a Grizzly 8688 (7x12) and I am very happy with it, I think I paid around 600 USD and see they are now 950 USD.

Hope this helps and remember there are many online reviews of the SIEG mini lathe in its many varieties.

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