On Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 1:10:35 PM UTC-6, David Lesher wrote:
A friend on the North Wet Coast in in need of a good vice, and a
drill press. He already has a mostly woodworking shop but also
is building up metalworking tools.

I'm trying to help Santa but don't know where to start. What
brand names matters in the metalworking vice category, and where
do you buy such? (Assuming we avoid H-F...)

On a drill press, his spouse didn't balk at $400 so I'm looking
at CraigsList in the Seattle area for lack of a better approach.
I've proved myself less knowledgeable on such than I thought.
Where is Yoda when I need him?

I just looked at all the Drill presses on the Seattle CL. I only saw one that I would have in my shop. There is a Jet unit for $500. If that is the 20" model it appears to be, that's not a bad price for a serious ($900 new) drill. I think Jet is a step above Grizzly.

But that's the only thing I saw worth having.

You might keep your eye out for one of the older Craftsman 15" drill presses, made in the 1970s. They have a thin belt and will run up to 8500 RPM. Very stout. I bought one last week for $50. It will look new in a few days, and I'll have $100 in it. Very stout, well made, non-import. Ball-bearing spindle. models 113-24580 (bench) and 113-24590 (floor model).
Also model 113-21371 is almost identical, earlier model.