I am one who either quilts with the quilt in my lap (no hoop) or I quilt with a frame. I am not fond of hoops and my experience with them was that they never were big enough to let me quilt for long without needing to take everything apart and reset it. And I never seemed to get the right tension for me to develop good quilting stitches. My husband says I am a bit OCD because I will pick out stitches if they are not perfectly even. I couldn't seem to get that effect by using a hoop and spent more time redoing stitches and getting frustrated. When it becomes frustrating it means I am not having fun and quilting is supposed to be fun and relaxing. I mostly just hand quilt with the quilt in my lap, which means I usually save hand quilting for winter when having the weight of the quilt on me isn't going to cause me to pass out from heat exhaustion. :lol: Now oddly enough, I can hand quilt off a large frame and have no problems. I enjoy sitting in front of a frame and I just finished watching Joe the Quilter's dvd on how to build a homemade frame for about twenty dollars. Guess what I want for Christmas! :lol:
That is just my experience though. I know for some people they work wonderfully. The experience you had with the hoop stand falling over every time you put a quilt in it is one I have heard before. I think if you enjoy using a hoop and it works for you, there should be one or two styles out there with a different, more sturdy stand. Hopefully someone can help you out and list a brand that provides that. Good luck! Let us know if you find something that works.
Piece ~ Tiffany