I can remember serving a new casserole dish to my kids once. I told the older kids they weren't allowed to complain about the food. The littlest kid looked at the biggest kid after he tried a bite and said, 'is it good?' Same deal here - it is all a matter of taste....
The Merritt is a modern mechanical machine with disks to make various stitches. The Merritt has plastic and stamped metal parts so keep it maintained. Keep it in use. All you can do is try it with free motion and see how you like working with it. The one I have makes nice stitches.