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I am the luckiest person under the sun! A new lathe is on the horizon for me and now I am agonizing about the choice to make. Should it be the Covington 4013 or the Denver SAG1? Building my own is not an option and those beautiful Spatzier and Merkers are out of the $$ question! Since I do not quite understand why there is a fairly big price difference between the two (Denver $2300-Covington $1360 -- plus shipping and crating) whereas the Denver has a 1/3 hp and the Covington has 1 hp. I understand that the Denver shaft is 4 inches longer (15" versus 11") and the Denver has variable speed versus 3 speed for the Covington.
Could you please share some of your likes/dislikes of the two lathes ? I would really appreciate some advice! Thanks! Barbel

The Covington 4012 is designed by Steve Klein, which is a very good recommendation, as Steve is one of us. I suggest getting the 240v version as it will be far more powerful. You just need a 240v dedicated circuit for it.

I am not a lathe user, so I can't help with personal experience. As an equipment designer, I have a lot of respect for equipment designed by a glass artist, for glass artists.

I've had both, and far prefer the Denver SAG1. More solid, just feels better.

Thank you, Brock and Bert , I really appreciate your advice!
I just ordered the Denver SAG-1 and am pretty excited (understatement of the year!)
Barbel

Congratulations, you will be happy with it. All my students preferred it also.