After working for a dealer for 5 years and now owning my own shop, I often took in repairs on machines bought from department stores. While the price is always good, the machines are not the same as a dealer model. When I see or hear a comment about the smaller Brother vs a larger Viking or other, it is like comparing apples to oranges. Part of my business is embroidery and custom digitizing and I own 11 machines. I will only embroider on my Brother machines and have done so for 9 years. The durability, user friendly screens and many more features packed into a value price are rarely beaten. I have embroidered on the thinnest material as well as double thick terry bath mats and horse blankets and have not encountered any problems. I own a PR600, Innovis4000, ULT2001,Brother180D,Viking DesignerII,Bernina,Sapphire,
Viking905 and more. I use them all including my 1951 Featherweight--well you know what they say-"right tool for right project."N.