We're going to have to disagree on that. I know people who've made parts with .0001" tolerances on the chinese import lathes. Standard tolerance for most machined parts is +/- .005". I can hold .001" easily. What you can't do on these lathes is work as fast, and cut as deep. You have to take it slower, and with shallower cuts. Sharper tools work better, too. Carbide tooling can be used, but it is still limited. Depending on the lathe you get, you can do some work on the lathe itself, that will make it work better. I didn't find I needed to do that on mine. What I needed was to learn how to measure better, and not be in so much of a hurry. If I can do it, anyone can.
This gentleman bought one of the earlier versions of the HF lathe. He thinks they're a fine tool: http://www.varmintal.com/alath.htm