I'm not a 99 fan either, mainly because of the vibration issues they and the 185's tend to have. Maybe your clones don't shake down the house as much and it's why you've bonded better?
I don't like any left homers (left needle position) machines and have talked about the why in depth on other threads. But they don't do what I need so although nifty looking, they don't live at my house!