When I went looking for a machine I never dreamed that I would spend as much as I did. But once started looking and saw what one has to offer over the other then I found that my acceptable budget expanded. I also thought about the money I put in on my kids braces and what I was going to spend on college for my kid and figured that I could buy myself something for me. My machine wasn't "thousands" but if I had more money I would sure buy myself another toy. But I did buy a nice machine so that I would have a good machine that would last me for good while