Brian, I had the Penn state duplicator, it's a inexpensive setup and works pretty decent, but once you start doing more etc it's not the machine.
The Vega is a decent setup too, more $$$ but better built too. Slower machine than the Penn state unless you buy the Pro models which will remove 1/2" of stock on the smaller one's and 3/4" on the bigger one's.
I went from the Penn state on one of my lathes to the Vega Pro this past July and wouldn't look back. For the $700 it's worth it for what I do. But for the casual guy whos going to turn out 12 of this is and 12 of that you may be better off with just the inexpensive PennState version.
Also another decent machine to look at you can find on Ebay, it's called a "Rand" duplicator, beefy construction and nice cutter bit too. The guy dropped his price there and I think it's under $100 now.
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