It would be easier if I was spending more.... it seems like it should be harder to pick a more expensive machine. At the $1500-2000 price point I have two contenders and would find a way to try them out but dealers are few and far between here and they don't have the cheaper machines set up to demo. I don't blame them I would keep my floor space for the "better" models too, but it does make it tougher. I don't want to invest a lot in a back up machine since it hopefully won't get much use!