I made the plunge to purchase the Martelli rings years ago. I absolutely love them. I do. I also changed out the knobs (which they offer) for ergonomic reasons. I use both small and large for the projects I'm working on. They really do "grip" the fabric and all I use is spray baste, no pins. I tried a similar product (priced much less) and it was worthless. I used the large ring so much that the gripper material was starting to come loose. One email to Martelli and I was able to return the ring, it was repaired - no charge and returned to me. The alternative of wearing gloves didn't work out well for me. The minute you need to do anything else but quilt, you must take off the gloves. I just found that annoying! It is easy to slip the ring around the needle and also easy to use. This was a huge investment but it made sense to me and I'm not sorry for that purchase at all. They are seriously my go-to and would not consider using any other method for quilting. I'm not sure why we don't hear more about them. I have a sit down quilting machine and since I quilt a lot, these rings have really been used. I free motion quilt and avoid marking at all costs! I just can't say enough good about these rings.