We have one local sewing machine dealer. When we first moved here nearly 30 years ago, I bought a small, very basic Pfaff from him. When I went back several years later to upgrade, he was no longer a Pfaff dealer, so I bought a used Janome. It has been a dream machine ... just a workhorse. When I upgraded again just a few years ago (when the Janome 11000 was brand new), I looked at all the machines for which he is a dealer (Janome, Bernina, and Viking). At that time, the Janome 11000 was the "Cadillac" of those 3 brands. I bought it and I have not been unhappy with it. I've been waiting for over 3 months now for a LED replacement light that has been on back order from Janome and I'm not happy about that. Last year I bought a Janome 1600 DBX. I was told then by personnel at that dealership that the matching Viking highspeed machine was a lot more expensive because of the Viking name, but the machine was identical to the Janome 1600. (I never trade my machines in ... I just add to my machine collection ... I use them all!) I have no opinion nor interest in Bernina.