Cheap enough if it goes for around that I guess. Uher's an okay brand from the little experience I've had with Uher products (mostly mikes). Being a two head it's not much use as an FX machine in my view. And being 7 1/2 ips it might be a bit hissy as a mix down deck with no NR (mind you I've been doing some stuff on some of my decks at 7 1/2 without NR and I don't mind it at all). 7 1/2's okay for tape echo. It's the speed I use the most when I'm using one of my machines for that.
If you're looking for portable reel to reels then Nagra's are the go - III's, IV's or 4.2's. They're expensive though and most are mono. But they're three head with 3 3/4, 7 1/2 and 15 ips with dual mic input and line in. And phones and line out as well. So they can do the tape echo thing easily. But no use for mixdown as they're not stereo. Maybe $US500 these days though. A full stereo Nagra 4 might be closer to $US2,000 if you can find one.
Yesterday I saw a stereo Sony portable reel go here for $AU150 on eBay. It's not a machine I'd seen before but it looked quite capable. I don't know what tape speeds it could do nor whether it was a two or three head machine.
I suppose in the end, knowing it's limitations, you could always just bid to where your comfortable with on the Uher and if you win it you can buy a bit of new tape, have a fiddle and see what it's capable of.
More flexible options are likely to be more than 45 Euros and more likely your box type two track 1/4" reel machines (Tascam, Otari, Revox, Studer, etc). Multi-speed, vari-speed and three head capability adds a lot to their usability and that's not the Uher from what you and JP have said.
You never know your luck if you keep looking, researching and waiting. We've probably all scored some bargans in the past in reel to reel land.
