Richard,
Nothing like getting a lemon to sour you on a company! I remember a time when Jet support was great and Grizzly's virtually nonexistent too. Grizzly has an excellent rep for customer support now and like I said, you are buying from the same primary manufacturer if you buy Powermatic, Jet, or Grizzly. Aside from bad experiences with support, it is hard to knock one and love another.
I do think I made it pretty plan what I was basing my suggestion to take a look at the 766 on too, the 733, and the factory data on the 766. The 733 seems to be a very close cousin. The 766 does have a rated hp listed, 3hp. I don't know that they are doing their rating any differently than Jet or Powermatic. Looks like the same motor manufacturer is used on some or all of the Jets.
Some of the issue getting them appears to be shipping. Containers stacked up on the west coast due to labor issues, no doubt ships stacked up at the Panama Canal. I don't think either of us can verify where the containers actually are containing the lathes or if they have shipped or not. Some people are being told mid May, depends on how far down the list you are and I suspect what port the ships are committed too. This just happened in the last few days and some of the dates given out may show an abundance of caution, maybe not. While orders have been taken since January, nobody has a credit card charged until the lathes ship from the US distribution center as I'm sure you know. You seem to be keeping pretty close tabs on a lathe you aren't interested in!
All of the chinese lathes have a record of getting the job done. After looking under the skin of my Jet I'll never be taken in by a pretty face.
Hu