I recently bought the Warco VMC vertical mill. I did look at the round-column machines, but I had already had enough of a round-column machine with its inability to maintain accurate location as you raise and lower the head. A real pain if you are going from centre drill to large twist drill, and don't have enough quill travel to cope. The VMC is more like a "baby Bridgeport" although maybe without the latter's build quality... In the end, the things that swung me to the VMC were the dovetail bed rise/fall, and the fact that the drive motor hangs down rather than pointing upwards, and I have limited headroom in my garage (my wife wouldn't let me cut a clearance hole in the bedroom floor!) The ability to put on cut by moving the bed makes up a lot for the slight movement in the quill assembly, which can then be clamped tight and not touched during milling operations.

Be interested in your comments once the lathe is commissioned; been wondering about upgrading in that area but there are a number of choices, including similar machines from Chester and Axminster.