I've coveted this mortiser for a long time. It's definitely top of the home workshop end. I've used the Delta, which is a good bit cheaper, and is built a good bit cheaper. Having now examined both, I can say you get the additional value in the Powermatic for the money you spend. Things like the depth stop, the tracked fence, the capacitor motor, the reversible mount, accomodating a variety of chisel/bit sets, and the WEIGHT. This sucker is solid.

I have not cut any mortises yet so will comment on a couple items of concern so far. First is: The box arrived destroyed. I think UPS kicked it down ten flights of stairs. The only thing holding the box together was the one remaining strap, none of the tape survived. If that second strap had gone, everything would have spilled out on the UPS distro center floor. Viewing this carnage, I unboxed the mortiser with fear and trembling. I know UPS *SUCKS* at taking responsibility so I really didn't want to deal with that. I pulled aside the cardboard and looked in. The mortiser is packaged in a fully molded styrofoam container, clamshell style, with mating top and bottom halves. The styrofoam was also significantly damaged and you could tell that it had crushed in several directions on its way down, and when it landed at the bottom of, the stairs. But I think it did its job like a bicycle helmet, it sacrificed itself for its cargo. So far the mortiser seems to be undamaged. Be advised: if you are one who is going to be bothered by having your item delivered in a basket, maybe you should shop locally.

The other comment for now is: Powermatic really smeared this thing with grease. The only sliding surfaces, the gib, are lightly oiled, but the rack that the lowering gear engages is covered in thick grease. It's as if they think it is protected from sawdust or something. I would much rather have it arrive non-goopy and be instructed to use a dry silicone spray. As it is, after about three mortises, it's going to be a big grease-sawdust muck back there that I'll have to scoop out with a screwdriver. I'll probably wipe down the gib also, and give it the same treatment.

I have a set of Shop Fox chisels and was glad to see the 701 will accomodate long or short shank drills, and chisels of either 5/8 or 3/4 inch diameter. The Shop Fox fit once I swapped in the 3/4" chisel holder and installed the chuck extender for the short shanks.

I'll edit this once I get a chance to use it, which I'm looking forward to!

Did a lot of research before I picked this unit.
It came faster than expected, a day early than forecasted with snowstorms in our area at the time.
It arrived in great shape via UPS.
I took my time cleaned all the oil off with mineral spirits and got familiar with all the components.
I stoned down all the sharp edges and working surfaces before reassembling the unit and reassembling, I do that with all my tools.
I had bought some really cheap mortise chisels a long time ago from a big box store. I touched them up a little and made a mortise hole in some red oak. Did a good job, much faster than chopping by hand. I think I could do better with surface finish in my holes with a little more tuning. Setting up the mortise chisel and auger was very easy for this first time user of a mortise machine!
It will take me a little bit to get this machine tweaked but that is to be expected. The only two cons are the storage unit on top for the chisels. It's a safety hazard, eventually your going to run your wrists and hands over razor sharp tools. I'm going to fabricate a separate holder for my chisels well away from the machine. The second issue is the 60 degree diamond cone for sharpening the inside of the chisel. For one it's too coarse, then its permanently fixed into the unit. There are a lot better ways to sharpen these bits.
Maybe I'm obsessive but I like my tools to be surgically sharp, that means coarse, medium, fine and then a polish hone to make the cutting edges a mirror finish. I will buy after market sharpening cones to get what I want and make my own polisher.
Other than that a great machine in my opinion, everything works smoothly and it's very well thought out and designed. I think they try to give you what they can while trying to be competitive. How one reviewer broke the rack is beyond my understanding, this thing is built like a tank.

Works well didn't expect anything else from Powermatic

Good product, but I'd definitely suggest getting the Powermatic bits. (Of course, they're way too expensive, but compared to the Delta bits, for example, they're way superior.)

Worked beautiful right of the box. Easy set up of chisels and depth settings and hold down works great. Love the cast steel very stable. No negative comments.