I have been an HQ customer for 11 years and love my machines! Customer service is wonderful!!! They too are willing to spend the time on the phone to walk you through any issues. When I bought my first machine I had no local support/ service available so depended on customer service long distance a lot. Now we have a new local (30 minutes away) dealer and I am so very happy about that, they even do house calls, so I do not have to take the machine in for service. My new upgrade is the Avante and I am loving it! The precision glide system is superb and having* Precision, Cruise and Manual* capabilities is great. And, yes they hold up to a lot of work, my first machine along with using it to quilt for myself and customers I also used for classes and rental time, so when I wasn't using it someone else was and I think when you have many different people using them that increases the ( wear & tear) yet the machine held up just fine. If you go with a local dealer you also have the opportunity to take advantage of free owner classes. I also get 25% discount on supplies, rulers what ever I buy at the shop ( that is probably dealer dependent)