I have a brother cs6000i my husband bought me over a year ago, and I have done everything on it. I have pieced, quilted, sewn through several layers, and sewn denim on top of another layer.
I have to tell you that my brother who is a truck driver for many years with a top rating in all categories, and he has told all of us that he sees it over and over on products that go to both big box stores and the local stores are the same quality for the same product.
He seen clothes before that all they did for a high priced store over such as K-Mart just different labels sewn on for each store. The prices of course for the nice store much higher for the same item as the K-Mart one.
He has seen this for many many things, and he said the people believe it. I have seen it myself too. I had bought a dress one year that the principal of the school I worked at that year had bought also only at a much higher rated store with a much higher price tag. Neither of us ever wore that dress again. lol... A girl thing.
My dad went to a store to buy a high priced item one year, and the first thing they tried to sell him was the warranty on it. My dad said, "with the money I am paying on this item if it is no better than to last that long without buying a warranty for x number of dollars more then it must not be much of a product," and he left the store to buy it elsewhere.
They have also ran stories on t.v. about how some of these stores make their real money in selling all the warranties.
When it's all said and done though, I think we all buy the products we do, for the amounts we do, and for the reasons we do. lol.....
It so much fun to sew though isn't it?