I'm responding to this post rather than the others that led this one, but some of my answer are in response to questions asked in the other posts just to keep my thoughts in one place.
I've ended up with mostly vintage machinery, but I'm a chronic overthinker and am very prone to analysis paralysis. I watch my spending closely and really hate spending money and then finding out I bought the wrong thing so I went down many rabbit holes in choosing my machines. I've looked at a lot of machines in the 9" and 10" sizes.
I personally think 10x22 (ish) is a very practical size for many home shop hobbyists, but I've also come to appreciate there is no one size fits all. My "big" lathe is an 11x24, and I do the majority of my work on a little 3-1/2x17" lathe (one of the few I have that was bought new).
I wonder if there is a better machine of the same size that is in the same price range.
Most small lathes make compromises.
A Hardinge HLV is an 11x18" lathe so by size is of similar capacity to the PM1022, however it requires 240v 3 phase power for its 3hp motor, weighs 1700lbs and has a (new) price tag in excess of $40,000. If you want to call them compromises, Hardinge chose to blow out weight and price to ensure their lathe offered the desired rigidity and power for the needs of their intended customers.
In the real world most of us live in an HLV is not a realistic option.
It has been awhile since I saw the Blondihacks video where she talks about her machines, but as I recall that was more about her pointing out the weaknesses of her 1022, the areas she has to work around. Most are the result of tradeoffs in the design rather than actual flaws to be corrected.
Clough 42 has a Grizzly G0602 which is a major competitor to the PM1022. He also has a video explaining his choices (he admits he would love a Hardinge HLV but that isn't an option for him). He specifically talks about why he chose the Grizzly over the PM1022.
His comments on the G0602 start around 8:20. He gives some well articulated reasoning, which work for him, but it isn't a "better". There are advantages to the G0602, and there are advantages to the PM1022, the G0602 was a better lathe for him. He has also put a lot of work into his lathe, it is far from stock.
He also makes some comments about why the 10x22 is a good size for a home shop lathe, but it is specifically based on the work he does.
Grizzly offers several lathes in this size, the G0752 is basically the G0602 with variable speed instead of changing belts. There are also the G0602Z and G0752Z which adds a DRO to the respective machines.
Not said is while both are listed as 10x22 lathes neither of these lathes is a true 10" swing, the PM1022 has an actual swing of 9.84", and the Grizzly lathes have a slightly smaller actual swing of 9.5".
Weiss sells the WBL250F which is similar to the PM1022, being of the same size and weight, power cross feed, and variable speed, but with a 1.5hp motor, and a higher price at $3800.
Digression for a small rant
On a side not both he and Blondihacks are rather dismissive of lathes smaller than 10x22 which as a person who does the vast majority of my work on a 3-1/2" swing lathe I find kind of annoying. I really wish they would just say a smaller lathe doesn't meet their needs and leave it at that instead of spreading the common misinformation about "mini-lathes".
The other popular option for a lathe of similar size / budget to the 10x22 lathes are going to the used market and finding a vintage lathe. There are some definite plusses to this, #1 many of the machines were just better, better made, and with more available features. Number 2, you can frequently buy a used lathe in good shape with more tooling, than the cost of new even compared to the relatively modest prices of most 10x22 lathes.
There isn't a lot of debate to the older machines being better, these older machines cost a lot more when new, so they should be better machines. As an example a South Bend 10K Model B (change gears and power cross feed) 10x22 lathe is a pretty good match to the PM1022 in size and features. In 1963 this lathe cost $521, or about $5400 when adjusted for inflation. The Model A which added a quick change gear box cost $609 or about $6200 in 2024.
The down side to vintage machines is they are used, most being 50+ years old. That is 50 years of wear, potential abuse and neglect. With care and some experience you can weed out the hopeless cases, but you can expect to put some amount of effort into fixing them up. There is also the fact that finding a quality used machine is a chore in itself. Finding "the one" can be an Easter Egg hunt. Some of us enjoy the hunt and the work bringing an old machine back to good condition, some don't. There are already some good reasons to by new, but if hunting old machines and spending months cleaning and repairing them doesn't sound fun that is another very good reason to buy new.
The older machines are also often bigger and heavier even when they are nominally of the same size. Going back to the South Bend 10K, it weighs a good 100lbs more than the PM1022, and is significantly deeper (about 36" vs 22") because of the rear mounted motor and counter shaft.
It also stated that the lathe lacks enough power at higher RPMs to use carbide tools, limiting it to high-speed steel tools.
This is true of most small lathes, even some bigger than the PM1022.
Until you get into machines weighing 1000lbs+ high speed steel is recommended. You can use carbide on smaller machines, there are people using carbide tooling on 7" mini-lathes.
It is not so much that you can't use carbide, as you don't receive much benefit from using carbide because the machines lack the power and weight to take full advantage of carbide tooling.
The other side of that is well ground, sharp HSS can make a huge difference on a small machine and even out perform carbide (on a small machine) allowing them to make much heavier cuts than would be expected.
The critical part is well ground, sharp tooling. That is a skill that has to be learned, so many people prefer to use carbide because you can buy insert tooling and skip the learn to grind tooling stage, but then you are also limiting your machines full potential.
I have some carbide tooling that I use with my 11" lathe. I use them on materials like cast iron which is notorious for quickly dulling HSS tooling. There is a great thread here on learning to grind HSS.
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) but that petered out. I got in touch with him to suggest that he go balls-out on it and as is his wont, he sent me a really friendly, warm and funny response but it was a "thanks but no thanks". BlondiHacks response was similar.