How much should a good used sewing machine cost?

[Bugscuffle]

I don't have a machine now, and could probably get by hand stitching everything for the rest of my days, but I keep wondering about a sewing machine. Being retired and on a pretty low fixed income, I have to consider costs. Just how much should I expect to have to pay for a decent machine that I can sew belts, holsters, bandoleers, saddlebags, etc?

[outrider]

Depending on the type of machine and of course the condition anywhere from about $500.00 up...
If you decide to go for a machine make sure you get one large enought to handle the projects you want to make...alot of people mistakenly think that a good walking foot will work....remember there are basically three types of machine out there...light weight, medium wieght and heavy weight machines...for example....I have a medium weight machine ( TK1245) whichis a clone of the Pfaff 1245 machine...the standard 1245 comes with a 135 needle system...my machine although a clone has the  larger 190 needle system, therefore I can sew from size 69 up to a 207 size thread...great machine for making chaps and lighter weight projects...brand new it was $2,000.00.  My main holster machine will sew up to a 554 thread and has  a 794 needle system.
There are many machines available on the market....Adler, Consew, Singer, Cobra, Ferdco, Juki, Artisan, Cowboy, etc....so do your homework and see which one fits your budget...Ferdco has a "used machine" section on their website

[TN Mongo]

+1 to Outrider's words of wisdom.  If you have the orders to support the cost, buy the best machine you can.  I dropped $1300 on a manual machine and I hated it.  For a little over $3000 I got a Juki 441 copy and I am very happy with its preformance.  Hand stitching produces beautiful results, but is very time consuming.  Although I still hand sew my holster welts, my machine has more than paid for itself by cutting the time needed to produce rigs.

Outrider and I both own Juki 441 copies.  Ours came from different makers, but we are both happy with the way they sew.

[Trailrider]

+1 to Outrider's words of wisdom.  If you have the orders to support the cost, buy the best machine you can.  I dropped $1300 on a manual machine and I hated it.  For a little over $3000 I got a Juki 441 copy and I am very happy with its preformance.  Hand stitching produces beautiful results, but is very time consuming.  Although I still hand sew my holster welts, my machine has more than paid for itself by cutting the time needed to produce rigs.

Outrider and I both own Juki 441 copies.  Ours came from different makers, but we are both happy with the way they sew.

+1  Mine's a Juki (Nakajima) with a synchronous motor that can sew one stitch at a time, if I'm moderately quick on the petal.

[Slowhand Bob]

+++ on the Juki clones, I use a Toro version.  Now for the fighting words, if I could find no way around the price of getting a machine with sufficient power to handle the heavier leather we use then I would definitely select a Boss over hand stitching where production is an issue.  The slowest hand stitching we commonly do will be bullet loops and even the one handed Boss will do it faster by a factor of several Xs with the same stitch line layout.  Fully lined belts for the really big guys is where the little Boss will pay for itself by turning a half day job into a few minutes worth of work.  This is not an endorsement, but rather a last ditch solution if one has no way past six or seven hundred dollars investment funds and these machines frequently can be found used in that price range.   

[Bugscuffle]

I recon that I'll just keephand stitching. My orders right now are limited to, "Hey, can you make one of those for me?"