The PM25 was a hundred bucks more, shipped, than the G0704. The PM comes with upgraded KB electronics and according to Matt, goes through a different/better build line than some others. Can't personally vouch for the latter, but the fit and finish on this machine is pretty darn good. Pretty damn accurate too (you still have to clean all the packing grease off everything). While trying to decide which machine to get, Matt put up with all my email and phone questions and I found him a pleasure to chat with. He was very interested in my little SB 8k lathe, as I guess he is a SB dealer but has never see the little guy. Asked a bunch of questions about it and said he may get one to "check it out".
And finally, I'm pretty sure I can count on Matt to help out any way he can if something does go wrong. This counts Really Big in my book.
I mentioned before that the machine I really wanted was the PM30MV-L with the bigger table, more mass, and more horsepower. But...I was worried that trying to put a 500 lb. machine on a Craftsman toolbox lower, even one rated to 1000 lbs, might be pushing it a bit. For my smaller 300 lb. mill, I've put a piece of 3/4" plywood on top of the tool box and am adding a piece of 3/8" thick steel plate between the mill and the plywood. Probably overkill for a little mill/drill, but that's just me. I'm an engineer, who tends to err on the side of caution, especially in areas outside my area of expertise. So shoot me...
The final straw was that I was worried that I couldn't drag the PM30MV-L which is a 600+ lb. pallet up a fairly steep driveway (4' increase in a 15' driveway or thereabouts). If that happened, I'd have to leave it sitting on the sidewalk until I could get some tools and take it apart and carry the pieces into the garage. In the cold and snow. Wasn't interested in that scenario...
So basically I chickened out and got the 25. :whiteflag:
While waiting on the Santa/UPS backup, I've already done the tramming and three-bolt mods to the head and have installed two of the three mounting plates for my glass scales. The more time I spend playing with this machine, the more I think I did OK and won't be losing much if any capability for the size stuff I work on.
EDIT: Sorry, missed the question about the SX3. If I'm correct, that's the one on the Griz site with the 6x21 table and the Z-axis knob on the front of the base? If I'm thinking of the right one, I did look at it but discounted it because of not enough travel in Y and it doesn't have tapered gibs. That and the base and column looked more robust in the pics of the 25 vs. the SX3. But, I was just going by pictures. I could be completely off base on that one.
Bill