So I received my South Bend SB1001 lathe last week. The machine was packaged well and arrived with no damage to it or the crate. Then, after a two day journey from my garage to my basement workshop, I was able to break it in and try using it. The lathe is very solid, and out-of-the-box, did not require any end-play adjustments. The one negative item I found, so far, is that the digital rpm readout is off. I'm not sure by how much, but if I run it at a very low speed, it displays a zero rpm spindle speed, even though the spindle is turning. Not a big deal though. I tried turning a piece of aluminum and I can easily take off as little as 0.001" (0.0005" per side) incriment. The finish is very smooth when turning an od. I don't have a boring bar yet, so I haven't tried turning any bores. . I may never know if the premium over the Grizzly G0602 was really worth it, but overall I'm very happy with the machine, and found no nasty surprises thus far
Thank you all for your input, and please feel free to ask any questions.