I can say that my "dinky" under $100 Brother from Costco has been a workhorse. It's a mechanical machine that can sew through anything and hasn't given me a bit of trouble. It's about 5 years old. I made a chenille and flannel quilt and didn't know enough to clean out the bobbin case but it never missed a stitch. It's great if we can all have higher priced machines, but, I don't think not being able to do that shouldn't deter any of us from quilting. JMHO