I own a big box version of a Brother machine, and a private dealer Brother machine. Big Box Brother is noisier, vibrates much more, and needs cleaning more often, but after 15 years, and no In-shop time, and riding twice across America by a gray dog bus service, still works as well as the day it was gifted to me. The private dealer machine cost roughly ten times as much, and is much quieter, comes with hundreds of stitches, three alphabets for monograming, and will sew sideways, threads the needle, (wonderful for this blind old bat), cuts the thread, and stops me from doing stupid things like sewing my fingers, I feel no need to upgrade. I keep the big box one for heavy duty sewing like patching and repairing jeans and sails, and the prettier one for my more accurate sewing jobs. Just so you know, I would happily pay the big price again. (Less than $2,000)