Dom since i am the only serious one here i will give you my 5 cents. Last time i had turned on a lathe was at high school way too many years ago.
Made a mistake of buying a cheap lathe under pressure long story. Net is it can turn something but lots of issues.
There is some sense in what Larry says. Think carefully about this. It may be the end of your flatwork. Then take heed from what Allen has learnt in his ventures into lathe land. They are recorded here for all to see. He ended up taking back the first lathe and buying up.
My advice would be try the whole idea out by going to a class and seeing if the bug bites. But think about what you gonna make. It can go two ways. I dont particularly want many more bowls in my house. I do like to do handles and other bits and pieces on the lathe and for that mine will get me by.
But whatever you think in the budget for the lathe is probably only 1/3 of what you gonna spend on the rest. Lathes dont come with Chucks, then Chucks have certain opening and closing ranges. Then you need centers. Then you need lathe chisels/tools. The cheap set well it will get you by for spindle stuff but if you want to venture to the land the guys here are in then its gonna cost ya lots of coin. You can spread it over time as you learn but the net is you gonna have a lot invested.
You only need to see the hollowing rigs the guys have here and see what that is all about. Oh and as Vaughn has said dont forget the supply of sandpaper.
If you just want to do a few spindles and few pens then you can get a nice small lathe like Jet and others make.
One thing i would advise is get a variable speed whatever. Make sure it can go low in rpm.
Make sure to get a decent faceshield.
But most of all try to get a feel for it before you buy. Then try to the best of your ability to decide just what you wanna do.
You do great flatwork. I ride the edge of the vortex, admiring the guys who do great work, getting to make the odd turned knob or mallet handle. But there is nothing like a plane and flatwork.
You get to savor a project longer.