nterestingly I have a cheap Brother from Sam's, under $100, got it over 5 years ago. It is a mechanical machine and I haven't had the first bit of problem with it. It will FMQ and does a good job with the straight stitch. It stitches fur, fleece, flannel, etc.with no problems. Got another cheap Brother from WalMart to keep at my daughter in laws house so when I visit I can "whip up" things for them. It has sewed just fine right out of the box. I wonder if they will quit on me tomorrow just because I am giving them praise! I also have a Singer I got in 1965 which works fine, but doesn't have an automatic needle threader, and an older Elnita I got for $10 at a garage sale which sews fine, but is hard to thread. Maybe I'm just lucky with these cheapy machines, so I guess it all boils down to personal preference as long as we are happy with our machines, right?