Two years ago I did what you're contemplating - I bought a 7" Asian (chicom) lathe. Unfortunately, I was not aware of the online help available and had no knowledgeable friends to advise me.
Concerning the Asian 7" lathes, regardles of whether they are 7x10, 7x12, or whatever - don't waste your time and money. (They chatter, read in milimeters and call them inches, and their variable speed motors should be in vacuum cleaners because they suck.)
As for the Asian 9" lathes, regardles of whether they are 9x20 or whatever - don't waste your time and money. (They don't have tumbler gears for reversing the lead screw, and they chatter.)
And don't loose a lot of sleep worrying about whether Grizzly is better than HF or ENCO. There doesn't seem to be much difference other than the owner's color preference.
For the same $$ or maybe a little more, you can buy a used American made lathe. Sure, you'll probably have to detail strip and clean it, but when you've finished you'll know how it works, how it's made, and how to fix it if something breaks.
Shortly after getting my chicom lathe, I realized that if I had gotten it for free I'd have paid too much. (I stuck a tool post grinder on it and use it as a (very) poor man's precision grinder. That was cheaper than buying a boat so I could use it for an anchor.)
Also, get the biggest heaviest lathe you can afford, have space for, and can supply the proper power to. Its much easier to make small parts on a large lathe than to make large parts on a small lathe. What I mean is that sooner rather than later, you'll find your chicom lathe is just too small for the task at hand.
You're likely thinking "I only plan to make small things." Well, Parkinson's law of machining is "your lathe will always be just a little smaller than the job you'd like to do."
I bought a SB9 (model "C") for the same price as my chicom 7x10, plus it had a 3 jaw and 4 jaw chuck, a face plate, 3 dogs, a steady rest, a boring bar, and a ton of other tooling.
My only regret is that I didn't get the model "A." Last year I converted it from the "C" to the "A." That cost me about $200.00 and a weekend to rebuild a trashed out gearbox. I got to turn down the "egg shaped" shafts, bore out the egg shaped holes for them in the housing, and turn some bronze bushings for the shafts. Another good lesson in machine work.
I'm no machinist,far from it, but as for buying an Asian lathe, well I been there and done that.
John