Bandsaw advice.

I’d go for it at that price. I had a HF and now have a Dewalt but would be happy with the Milwaukee I doubt there’s that much difference. Both have 8” cutting capacity.
 
I have the HF works good! You could buy almost 2 of the HF for the price of the Milwaukee even at that price. I'd be torn though I have used the Milwaukee and they are a nice machine.
 
So, as I've said before I work in a 370,000sf manufacturing facility, currently as the MRO supervisor. My opinion of tools and their usage is sometimes skewed because I view them only through the prism of life cycle cost and downtime.

I have personally maintained and repaired hundreds of Milwaukee bandsaws (I wasn't always a supervisor). They work good for cutting things like tube and channel. Their issues are a trade off for their convenience where we use them. However, if I didn't need that portability, I think they are an expensive saw to operate, given the tires slip, wear, and even break pretty easily, and the bushings in the drive wheels don't last all that long. The other big thing is the blade length and the number of revs you need to make to cut the same distance in comparison to a bigger saw. The 66 1/2" saw blades are as cheap as the 44 1/2" blades for 50% more cut life, all things being equal.
Personally, I have a $100 flea market '84 model Buffalo horizontal saw that I use. I would not swap it for a portaband, unless space or portability were a concern. And I do use the horizontal position as well as vertically.
 
Not a fan of Milwaukee anything, have had TWO of their Portabands.....which is why I wrote....... https://knifedogs.com/threads/milwaukee-portaband-saw-problem-and-how-to-fix-it.50100/

The first one that had this issue, I fixed per the above tutorial.....the second with the same issue, I literally took to the dump. I have the repaired Milwaukee portaband in one shop, and a Dewalt variable speed/chain drive model in the other shop...... the Dewalt cuts rings around the Milwaukee. Between that, and the horrible customer service from Milwaukee..... you'd have to pay me to own one of their tools.
 
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I have a Milwaukee porta-band that I bought used that has worked very well for me. I've been meaning to take it a part per Ed Caffrey's fix but I haven't done so as yet. Still chugging along.
 
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