My dealer had me completely confused about this too. He basically said the same as your dealer is saying but it is my understanding that the grey/white box with a start/stop button and a speed control is a stitch regulator but not a cruise control. I have since purchased Qbot with cruise control (it is a red box for this setup). The stitch regulator is very helpful, but the actual cruise control makes even stitching much easier. I have found that I am not impressed yet by the Qbot but would not give up my cruise control. I truly feel that my dealer wanted to sell them as a package and that I probably overspent by $2000 for something that I am not really utilizing. Having said all this I am still not sure how the cruise control works without be attached to the Qbot unit but I think it is possible. I think the cruise control is $500-$600 and the Qbot setup was around $3000.