I've just been through the same process and just placed an order, not delivered yet. Mainly for woodturning blanks but I'm sure it will get used for a lot more.
The RP seems to be out of stock in lots of places, Snainton woodworking have one in and they are a decent outfit, real people. I have a fairly basic Record Power lathe and am happy enough with it.
In the end I ordered the Axminster 1950, a bit bigger and has a stand which I can fit in with a reshuffle. £360 ish so a bit more than the Record but with low stock the price of the RP250 is elastic, some seem to be above list or have silly delivery costs. The Axminster smaller one looks OK too and that is bench mounted but I decided that the cut depth might be marginal for me, not sure any will really perform near their capacity, not too worrried about throat size. I was influenced by proper reviews generally and in particular on you tube "Badger Workshop" - sensible sounding real person who reviews the RP250 and later gets the Axminster. In another of his videos on you tube he builds a trolley/storage rack to replace the axminster stand, I might go that way in a bit as well.
I also found the Axminster "Wednesday workshop" series which has good demos of cutting curves and other things on the same range of machines. They do 3 sizes, the biggest was nice but to many £££ at the moment. Of course they are going to make it look good but it seems honest. The Axi doesn't have a mitre guage, you can buy one for £50 but I've not, I will make a sled, circle jig, mitre and see how it goes. I did throw in an extra tenner for a 1/4 inch blade for doing the smaller blanks. I think the RP does have the mitre guage included.
RP also do videos, their site recordpower.co.uk.
I got confused and frustrated by the badge engineering - is a Clarke a Scheppach, what about a Metabo, is the Record any better, etc., and Clarke don't have a very good reputation for parts and service. Be on the lookout for table, the cheaper ones are pressed not cast and may be less good absorbing vibration. I never quite trust 'star' reveiws. If they are universally bad then I avoid, but you get silly 5* ones saying quick deliverey not used it yet and silly 1* ones saying won't cut tight curves (well, you wont unless you get the right blade). So after a week of immobilising myself and collecting too much information I just went for it. The Axminster from a final shortlist of that, the RP250 and a Metabo 261.
With current delivery situation on kit generally I wouldn't order from anyone who says "we can get one in for you sir", only from someone who has real stock.
Hope that helps - but remember, I've not got it yet! When I do get it, likely Tues, I have a fair bit of workshop/garage re-organising to do + set up + learning so it will be a while before I can really make a judgement. Unless of course a review that says "quick delivery, nice box" is helpful.
Thought not.
