Here are some considerations...
Whenever I make a gift, donation or something I can make quickly to take to a club, etc. I always make an open segment vessel. I can make it in much less time than it takes to make it as a closed segment project. Mostly because I can cut segments in a fraction of the time when I can stack strips and cut 4-5 segments at a time.
To make these projects fast, I like to use a 16 or 18 segment vessel because it makes glueup quick and there is plenty of time to finish before the glue starts to setup more than you want.
As to which of these two I would buy, if you use the 16 segment, you’ll be making designs that are either 2 or 4 repeats. Two repeats gives you eight segments to create your design which is great, but it wraps too far around the bowl to see correctly. With 18 segments, you will use three repeats with 6 segments to make the design. This is all you need and it lets you easily see one complete repeat. 18 segments would be my choice.
If I have the time, I prefer to use a 24-segment plate. This is just like photography - the more pixels you use, the better the resolution of the design Will be. 24 segments will take you longer time to cut and glue, but the time difference is not huge.
Make sure you watch the 5-part tutorial I made at this link:
I've done a poor job at providing content for the segmenter that is just getting started with open segment turnings. So with Christmas fast approaching, I thought this would be a good time to correct that with a project that is seasonally appropriate. I've made a five-part tutorial that shows...
woodturnerpro.com
Lloyd