buying a lathe?

[Chak]

Thanks for everyone's response!
Our budget is $2000. We don't have a machining mentor, so I think our coach is more comfortable buying new. It looks like our choices are one of the around $1000 benchtop lathes like the ones at Harbor Freight or Little Machine Shop + tooling. Anyone have advice/warnings/experiences with these lathes?

Btw, Little Machine Shop looks like a great resource, with their tips and guides. Looks like I have a long Thanksgiving Break ahead of me for research!