I have a Sears lathe that was made by Palmgren, and have generally been happy with it. I did have some problems with it, and it took me a while to figure out the cause, but Palmgren's tech support was very willing to help me out, even though they really weren't obligated to help me with a Sears tool.
The Palmgren tools seem to be budget-minded import tools, but they also seem to have a US company providing good service on what they sell.