One think I do recommend is that is you are losing for precision, weight your powder charges individually and dump them into the casings. Unless you have an extremely precise and repeatable powder thrower.
I hear you. I have a buddy that went from Hornady LNL progressive to a Dillon. Said it was way better but I have a hard time separating "I paid a lot of money for this" from it actually being a big improvement. It may well be, but again I have had no complaints with mine. Maybe the change over to other calibers, etc might be where some improvement comes from? Possibly the physical station to station transition is smoother? I guess that is one minor complaint- it can be a bit abrupt and spill powder if you go fast?I throw powder now for .223, RCBS Uniflow and Micrometer adjustment. With ball powders it has been very accurate. However, it's the brass prep I want to speed up more than anything. I looked at the Dillon CP2000, but I'm not sure I want to spend that money yet.
$1000 was just for the press.First I think that you may need to double your spending budget.
Yes and then you need all the extras. Die Plates, Dies, Powder Drop if it didn't come with a good one. It should have a primer already and the depending on how may stations it has you should get a Powder Checker to make sure that you got a full case of powder. If you get a "Short" load you may end up with a "Squib" in the barrel and the next cartridge would be a disaster. Especially with an AR or semi auto. The loader has to be "Timed" so everything works at the same time. Don't look at the cost so much as what it can do. "BUY ONCE CRY ONCE"$1000 was just for the press.