Hi all
Well in answer to the question about HF products..such as the lathe...I happen to have the next lower model then the one that you are looking at
I really dont have many complaints about it ...as far as performance ..it works for what I do ...Im only just learning and didnt pay alot for it...its made cheaply ..hollow tube rails for the bed and unless you really make it stout on the stand it will actually fold as you tighten the material into the chuck.
I have just about rebuilt the whole thing to my satifaction and made it stronger and im happy with it for now ..if I were into turning really serious I would go for a much better one.
My nephew bought the one your looking at and it is a much sturdier lathe.
LOL mine is actually a muilti tool center..I built a table stand for it and I use the motor belt pully to also power my homemade 36" belt sander and a homemade disc sander so it serves me well.

I also have their small benchtop drill press and I just love it for what I paid ...think it was $40.00

But I think what I like the best is their lifetime warranty thats really cheap at time of purchase ..got it on the drill press and chop saw tht I have...chop saw quit after 3 months ...took it back and it was replaced no question ..and I used the heck out of that old one.

Here's another one...
While out bargan hunting one weekend about 3 years ago I picked up an old beat up 10 inch table saw for 10.00 at that time i had never heard of HF ..well after doing some reshearch on it I found out who made it and so on and I figured if I got a few months out of it i had my 10 bucks worth. I had it all this time and used the hec out of it and its still going strong!!

All just my 2 cents....if your like me and have a low budget their worth it but always get the lifetime warranty option u cant go wrong with that.