You're gonna hate me for saying this: I just spent some of my Christmas money on a Makita 3901.
I'm chuffed to bits. The motor is basically a quite ordinary angle grinder, which is OK, but the business end is really well made. There's obvious surface grinding, giving squareness and precise dimensions on the bits that matter. It plunges really smoothly, and the depth setting, once properly adjusted, is really quick and easy. I'm sure extraction would be better, but just with the dust bag connected it leaves no mess at all. It also doesn't kick when it enters the wood*, which pleasantly surprised me.
I've just used it to reinforce a picture frame's mitres, which were too awkward to biscuit 'traditionally'. Instead of cutting into the mitre faces themselves, I glued the frame up square first, then cut into the back, across the mitres (at right angles), and 'stitched it' with purpose-made half-biscuits** cut on the bandsaw. Finish by planing back flush with the back surface.
It worked a treat, not least because the thing cuts so accurately. I'm guessing the slots come to within 1 or 2 mm of the moulding on the face side of the frame.
I've also used it to join 18mm MDF at 45 degree angles for jig-making. It didn't miss a beat.
I fussed over the amount it cost for ages, and watched eBay. In the end I bought it just after Christmas at Axminster's old catalogue price, with 1000 biscuits thrown in.
I really don't regret spending the money. Axminster have put their price up now, I think, but other people are still selling it for <£250.
Cheers,
E.
*it may kick as the cutter loses its sharpness, only time will tell.
**an ordinary biscuit's grain goes the wrong way - the bandsawn grain went along the long axis of the 'biscuit', to 'stitch' the mitre.
the yellow Clarke model seems well built for the price and accurate enough for my amateur bodgings.
