But back to the original question. I guess I am in a good position to provide an answer, having purchased two import, 20" drill presses: one for my last employer and the other for my own shop. Unfortunately neither was a Jet, but they do illustrate what can be found when purchasing imported machines.
For my last employer I purchased a Grizzly 20", floor stand drill press. It is by no means a light weight and after assembling it per the instructions, laying down on the floor, it took several of us to stand it up. It ran OK from the first and I had no problems with it. The cost was about $1200 PLUS tax and shipping. Probably near $1500 total. this was about 15 to 18 years ago so expect more today.
For my own shop I had to go a more economical route so I purchased the more or less same 20" floor stand drill press from the local HF store. They had one on display which I could examine so I did know some of the differences between it and the Grizzly. Again, it had about the same weight and it took three of us to stand it up after assembly. My cost with one of HF's discounts was only about $450 plus tax (8% here). About $485 or a bit more total. This was around 7 or 8 years ago. It was delivered to the local HF store where I picked it up with my truck so there was no shipping charger. Grizzly and some others could learn something here.
The exercises in lifting both of these similar DPs to the vertical position does illustrate that they have very similar amounts of CI. There is no major difference in the castings.
One thing I did not like about the HF was the chuck. It had a 5/8"+ chuck which sounds nice, but it was too big to grab the drill bits from 1/16" up to about 1/8". So I immediately purchased a 1/2", Rhom chuck which is the one that I used almost all the time.
Chuck comparison: I did not run any tests on the Chinese chuck which came with the Grizzly, but it worked well. I did take runout readings on the Chinese and Rhom chucks on the HF. The 5/8" chuck which came with the HF DP had surprising good runout, IIRC, under 0.002" both near the jaws and at about 1.5" or 2" out from them. The Rhom chuck, again surprisingly, actually had about twice that runout or about 0.004" or 0.005" when measured in the same manner. These numbers were checked with two or three different diameter rods and they were consistent. I even ran the numbers at two different orientations of the chuck in the spindle and they still tracked. So they seem to be due to the chucks themselves.
Both DPs had 1.5HP, 115/230 Volt motors and 12 speeds; if memory serves, the actual numbers were very similar. Both ran OK from first assembly but I believe the Grizzly did run with less vibration. I did purchase a new set of belts for the HF and that improved, but did not stop all the vibration. The HF motor seems to run very quiet with the belts disconnected so I suspect the pulleys are a bit out of balance. Both machines have exactly the same motor mount and are equally easy or difficult for changing the belt positions for different speeds. I do actually use different speeds for my work. I can't remember what the Grizzly had, but the HF has a nice speed chart inside the belt cover which I use all the time. I even made a magnetic pointer to let me see which speed it is currently set up for at a glance.
One feature I like and use almost constantly on a DP is the depth stop. Blind holes, counter sinks, counter bores, chamfering, etc. I find the depth stop very useful. The Grizzly has a vertical, threaded rod with a double nut style of depth stop while the HF came with one on the hand wheel which is adjusted by loosening a thumb screw and rotating it. The threaded rod style permits more accurate adjustments while the collar on the hand wheel of the HF is faster to use but it's scale has much to be desired. Frankly I do not like either style and I had modified the Grizzly with a push button nut on the threaded rod. No changes were needed on the Grizzly for this mod, just exchange the nuts and the result is it is both fast to use and easy to adjust to within a few thousandths of a desired depth. I have a push button nut, a spindle bracket, and some threaded rod for the HF and plan to modify it as soon as I can. One advantage of the HF here is it will have two depth stops after the mod and the original, hand wheel stop can be easily used to hold the spindle DOWN as is sometimes desired. At that point both of the depth stops will operate at the same time and that can save time if a large number of parts are being drilled or chamfered.
Beyond those observations, I have found only one other major feature that is different. The Grizzly has a larger spindle which probably means larger bearings. I discovered this when I wanted to get the bracket that attaches to the quill for the threaded rod style depth stop. The HF DP simply did not have this part so I went to Grizzly where I knew I could get it. When it arrived I found that it had an opening that was about 1/2" to 3/4" bigger than the HF DP. I kept it as it will be easy to shim to the smaller diameter.
So, are different imported machines different in quality? I would definitely say YES. The Grizzly definitely ran smoother from the get-go. And it did not need a new chuck to grip small drills. The threaded rod depth stop is better in my opinion and definitely better after adding the push button nut. But is the Grizzly worth close to $1000 more? When I was spending my own money, not my employer's, my answer was a definite NO. Even if I had lived closer to a Grizzly showroom and could have picked it up to save shipping charges, I do not know if I would have chosen the Grizzly.
That being said, I will say this. I have purchased other machines from Grizzly. I do believe they have better QC (quality control) than many of the other importers. And knowing that I was buying an import, Chinese made machine, I was never disappointed with a Grizzly purchase. I got my personal milling machine from them, taking advantage of a low, introductory price. Even with the shipping it was a good deal. One must just do these things with their eyes open.
While I can't say anything about Jet, I hope this helps.
