H,
I'm entirely with norman on this; I have a size S00 Dickson set for my S7, with over 25 holders acquired over many years and from a variety of sources. All of them have proved entirely satisfactory, though the ones bought from Myford have a slightly better finish. I also have a size S1 set for my M300, which is equally good, though a lot more expensive.
My personal view is that 4-way tool posts are the spawn of the devil. You can usually only get 3 tools in them if you want one of them for boring, and one of them is always perfectly placed to stab you – but the real problem is the limit of tools ready for instant use. Yes, advocates say that you can keep a piece of shim with every tool – but that still takes many times longer than a QC, and you can't put the tool back in exactly the same place for repeat parts like you can with a QC. I sold the 4-way that came with my S7, after many many years of it gathering dust.
As for tool boats, well frankly you'd have to be desperate.
David
Edited By David Littlewood on 09/10/2013 17:51:52