Brother also makes singer and the Brother salesman told me he'd never buy a singer either. I own 4 singers one janome and one stradavarous(sp, was grannies). I use my singers alot. If I were going to buy a new machine no matter what the brand, I would buy from a dealer, you get free classes(usually), trade in value. You can still get the same simple machine but with extras from the dealer. If you buy from wal-mart you get a receipt and a box warranty.