Thanks for the input. Size and cost are both issues, but since I live in the city, money costs a lot less than space, if you know what I mean*.
I also saw that the manuals say 1.75" is the largest stock size it handles. I might be able to work with that but I'd like to see if I could get to 2" maybe with a slightly different chuck....
The 4x5 is a whopping 17x10x8 and ~30# in size which makes it seem like it should come with a shoulder strap. How large/heavy are the 7x10s? The manuals only list bed size and shipping weight on the larger machines. What is the weight like? The HF site lists 90# as shipping weight which is still in the range of what you can lift and carry alone but definitely not as easy to carry up and down the stairs
* I realize the little machines bring a lot of limitations, so I'm still trying to decide whether I can live within those since I''m not sure I can live with a larger tool at the moment. I made this mistake once when I bought my oscilloscope. I started out looking at a small (phone book size) 5MHz one-channel scope, and then the guys at DIYAudio.com talked me into spending the same amount of money on a 4-channel 60MHz analog scope the size of a large PC case. It can do a lot more, no question, but 6 months in I've never used it for anything the little scope could have done, and the big hog requires a bit of thought to move around. So a 100# benchtop tool scares me a bit in that regard.
Then again, maybe if I throw out all the stuff I'm storing in the basement, the landlord would let me use that space as a work area....