just to react to one piece of this commentary - every high end lathe I am
familiar with is belt driven - that includes Axminster, Oneway, Stubby,
Nichols, and so on - I guess I don't understand then, with one NZ company
making a "stepper motor" driven lathe, how that means that "everyone has
made their decision" - did I misunderstand?
snip

Not many pulley-driven lathes available any more. Everyone else has made
their decision, now it's time for Teknatool to do it.