Of the two lines, the Vertex looks to be the better skimmers with the bubble plates, smoothed out necks and collection cup drains. But the pumps on both probably leave something to be desired. The PM skimmers look like they're using Octo pumps rather than better quality Eheim, Sicce or Askoll pumps. I can't tell what the Vertex ones are using, but I sure hope the specs on the IN-250 are wrong since 145W for a needlewheel pump is extremely inefficient.
It looks as if J&L brought these two lines in to replace the loss of their ER skimmers - the PMs which look to be exact clones of ER's RS line. For their relatively low prices they're probably skim pretty good especially after some mesh modding, but I wish our otherwise wonderful local vendors would bring in a greater variety of modern mid- to higher-range skimmers such as:
http://www.cncmarinesupply.com/catal...693989daba9ce4
or:
http://www.warnermarine.com/Skimmers/
or:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-11/pr/index.php