Thats like saying "what do you think about Ford cars?"
Well, I didnt like my Escort that much, but I think GT-40's are just swell.
Birmingham makes an entire line of lathes, at multiple weights and price points.
Their 9x20 looks like every other 9x20, and I wouldnt touch it with a ten foot pole.
Their 10hp DL series are probably a lot better than the Grizzly lathes- and cost 12 grand or so.
Again and again, we get questions that are basically "who makes a $10,000 lathe and sells it for $4000?"
And the answer is, nobody.
The better taiwanese lathes are decent machines, and sell for 10K to 15K. They are NOT equivalent to Mori Seiki's, or their Korean clones, which generally sell for 20K to 30K.
And they are certainly not as good as old Monarchs, American Pacemakers, Axelsons, or LeBlonde's, which, if available new today, would run 100k to 200k.
You gets exactly what you pay for, and every chinese $2500 lathe is basically the same as every other chinese $2500 lathe.
If you are going to buy a Grizzly, or a Jet, or a Birmingham, get the very best one you can possibly justify- their top of the line products- at least 5hp to 7 1/2Hp, with a weight of 4000 to 7000lbs, and, if you treat it well, and dont expect it to replace a $50,000 Monarch EE, it will probably be just fine.
Me, I am not terribly impressed by the Grizz lineup- I duck in the world headquarters from time to time to buy things without moving parts, and they all seem to be from different factories, and I would hesitate to buy any but their absolute best, most expensive machine. The few times I have bought Grizzly machines that use that newfangled electricity stuff, the smoke seems to wanna get out real bad.
I have had better experience with Jet, but only with their "best" products- their cheap stuff is just that.
The better Birminghams look OK. The low end ones look generic.
You should consider talking to Matt, who posts here, and sells chinese lathes. He has been to most of the factories, in Taiwan and China, and is, as far as I can tell, a straight shooter. I have not bought anything from him, so I cant speak to that.
He posts as QualityMachineTools, and his website is
http://www.machinetoolonline.com/
Pick his brain a bit, he sells Birmingham and other brands.