16" to 18" Price jump on slab saws

Okay, I had to look, and my answer has changed.
Covington 16 and 18 inch saws are not the same thing at all.
The 16 is their slab/trim thing that is extremely under engineered and is the bane of everyone I know who has had one. The 18 is much more robust. I don't really like Covington saws at all, but the 700 series larger saws are better.
I assume that HP is pricing theirs to be competitive, since their 16 is just a smaller version of the 18. $174 per inch of blade diameter vs $244 is a lot.
If you are getting a brand new saw the HP 16 seems like a deal. You should budget another $300 or so for upgrade, just in case. I'm still not sold on the Chinese saws, though they have improved according to people I trust.

Motor, bearings mostly. Richardson rock ranch bought several some years ago, and Casey, when he was still there, told me they replaced pretty much all of that before they even started them. They also are a production shop and they run the feed faster than you and I need to.
FYI they had a falling out with the Sherman bros when HP refused to repair or replace a DOA drop saw at an overseas mine that RRR owns. Don't know the final results there, but their customer service hasn't always been stellar.

When the feed has to have a slip clutch to prevent the saw tub from flexing and binding up in the middle of a cut,
it's not a "hobby saw".
It's scrap metal.

I bought my 16 inch covington in January 2008 and didn't unpack it for 7 years when I retired. I paid about 1/2 of what they sell for now. It was intended to be a hobby saw since I don't do a lot of slabbing. The 12/14/16 are about the same saw with the price difference, the blade. I switched to a 14 inch after wrecking the 16. When the saw is working properly which is not that often it is an ok saw. When I bought there were few choices in the price range for a new saw in that size. My biggest complaint is the carriage drifting which produces uneven slabs and frequent binding.

I have a HP 14". Yes a much smaller saw, but it is built like a tank, and I am overly amazed at how much saw I got for the price. This saw is overbuilt for sure and there is zero flexing in the carriage. Super heavy duty bearings and cast iron blocks and pullies. My only real complaint is with the motor mounting screws. They are like 3/8" Phillips head screws. Very worried that they will wear out from the vibration and once the saw is moved to a permanent location (right now it runs in my garage sitting on my workmate) I plan to replace those with some hardened machine bolts. When I was researching saws I looked at so many offerings (new and used) and for my needs and budget and mechanical inability- the HT saws from HP won out every time.