I can't speak for version 7 but version 6 gives excellent results it is just hard to get up to speed on I don't know v7's interface but these are my settings for V6
Here are my settings, most came from Joe Holmes I'm sure he doesn't mind me sharing them with you, a few are my preferences
Download enblend,smartblend and ptstitcher
tools/options/panorama tool load ptstitcher
tools/options/plugins load enblend and smartblend
In project assistant:
1. Load images
2. Align images (cylindrical and centered for single row panos)
then use the optimizer, Heavy + lens shift, Optimize using panorama tools optimizer
3. Create Panorama
first create a small sized pano to verify blending then if it looks good create a full rez pano,
a. select output file location
b. select stitch using ptgui (but warp using panorama tools)
c. select blend using smartblend plugin
d. check use fast transform
e. select interpolator sinc 256
It took about a week to get comfortable and as you see things you don't like you dig into it and find the solutions like manually selecting control points etc.
Marc