For a long time we used our horizontal/vertical Jet bandsaw in both positions. It is made so you can flip it up and put a table on it and use it as a vertical model. But it wasn't ideal. The blade is a 3/4 inch and too wide to make intricate cuts. We love it in the horizontal mode, not so much in the vertical mode.
I kept looking for a metal cutting true vertical bandsaw and went to look at lots of them on Craigslist. Every one turned out to be a wood cutting one, some were converted by using a metal cutting blade, but not what I wanted. They would tell you on the phone it was a metal cutting one, but when I got there it was a wood cutting version.
Finally, I saw an ad for a metal shop that was going out of business and I went to see the bandsaw he had for sale. It is an old Delta and is a real metal cutting one, I bought it for $ 250 and absolutely LOVE it. The blade is thin, so you can cut around curves, and it runs VERY slow.........exactly what you need for cutting steel. I feel very safe getting my hands close to the work because of the slow speed.
Wood ones run much faster and some guys have done some things like changing pulley ratios to slow them down. They say that helps a lot. As for blades, our local metal supply house custom makes blades in house and I get Steritt brand blades for both of our saws from them. They last forever. I just replaced the one on the horizontal one and it was probably 2 years or more old, and we cut a lot of steel on it.
Don