Struggling to decide between a post bed and a cylinder sewing machine

[Jose4616]

Hello I have been thinking for a while what post machine to get and even thought about getting a Chinese clone from alibaba. But I'm to worrisome for that and now I think I am willing to spend 3k for a machine (a little more maybe). I mainly want to sew work boots in the vicinity of 7-8 oz leather and would like to make bison boots which are 8-9 oz. Roughly since I will be sewing two layers of leather I want something that can sew 16 or 18 oz leather. To my understanding the techsew 830 meets my needs, but I don't know if I should get a cylinder arm sewing machine instead because I am also interested in making wallets and other small things. I do not know if my interest in wallets is hungry enough, but the idea of being able to do other things with a cylinder also calls my attention. Then again I have heard that a post bed sewing machine with a roller foot is really nice to sew shoes, but I have never really heard whether or not a shoe can be made in a cylinder arm with a walking foot. Will it be too difficult? I seek advice on what you would do in my case. I have even been thinking of the cowboy cb4500 because of the ability to use the specialized foot to sew uppers to outsoles, but don't know if the machine will be too much machine to make shoes. Thank you for any opinions!

[Ferg]

I have owned recently, both cylinder arm and Post bed, both were Cowboy.

While the Post bed was an interesting machine to use it wasn't intended for heavy sewing. Mine would work great with 92 thread it really didn't sew as easily with 138 although I did use it occasionally. 

Looking back the cylinder arm would be my suggestion. I done some shoe work also wasn't impressed with either machine for shoes.

[Wizcrafts]

If you opt for a post machine, look for a heavy duty model with compound feed, and a large bobbin. I have a Singer 168G101 that I use to sew patches onto hats and vests. If you need a post machine for a job, have one ready. I have tried sewing post jobs on my cylinder arm machines and it isn't fun at all.