I have the Dewalt DW733 portable planer. My understanding is that the main difference between the DW733 and DW734 is the later DW734 uses a three knife cutter-head with disposable blades, whereas the DW733 uses a two knife cutterhead with re-sharpenable blades.
The planer is solidly built which is the reason I chose that model. My main gripes with it is the weight, ergonomics, and dust collection. The weight is about 80 lbs. which is heavier than the Makita model I was otherwise considering.
The weight can also make it more awkward to move. The ergonomics are also not great. The lock for the cutterhead is awkwardly placed and can cause your hand to get whacked it you use it wrong, though after using it a few times this may not be an issue. The handles for carrying it are steel rod that pull out from the sides. The handles work but I find them to be awkward, I'm small framed though so if your taller this may not be as much of a problem.
The dust collection for the planer is an attachment you may have to purchase separately. It seems to have been designed as an afterthought, which is annoying since portable planers produce a large number of wood chips. The bck foldable bed of the planer also won't completely close for storage when the dust collection unit is attacked. If you have an open area were chips spraying all over won't be an issue, it might be easier not using the dust collection and just sweeping up later. make sure you blow or brush the chips away from the planer bed, and top og the work piece, otherwise chips can get pressed into the wood surface by the rollers and leave divots in the finnished surface.
The other thing you might want to look for if your buying a used unit is to check if pine or other resin filed softwoods have been run thru the planer. The planer isn't the easiest thing to clean if resinous wood has been used, and there would probably be resin on the cutterhead, on the rollers, around the cutterhead, and around the columns. This isn't uncommon with all planers I've used though, but you probably don't want to run better hard woods thru after using the planer for soft woods without cleaning it.
I'm not sorry I purchased the planer, and it's always worked solidly for what I've used it for. The quick change knives would probably have been preferred. $175 would seem to be a good price if the disposable knives still have a good edge on at least one side.
