Well, it's a sad situation for sewists everywhere. More than one company with a decades-long history of quality, reliability, and innovation have deteriorated to selling barely functionally junk by exploiting the reputation previously built. How long does it take us to wise up? And there's always someone with a perfectly functioning modern Singer. So they CAN make a decent machine, they just don't bother to be consistent about it. It's not where machines are made either. Perfectly reliable and fabulous machines come out of Asian factories by the millions. It's the corporate ethics that say, it's ok if some of what we sell is junk, as long as we keep selling. Blame the sewist for any problems. Don't give refunds. It's acceptable to have our customers spending thousands and have a machine in shop several times in the first year. Used to be that companies replaced lemons b/c they didn't want junk ruining their reputation.