I have two porper model b's, a Hightower inlay machine and two of his cue building lathes as well as a taig based repair lathe I built myself just for shows. Both lathes have benefits as well as limitations. Hightower is lighter, smaller and more portable. Porper is beefier and can handle bigger tasks in the building aspects. Plus, Hightower has awesome customer service. Porper is hard to get info from. Ryan is really good at questions about porper but he works for muellers not porper lol. Hope this helps