try to get a Brother dealer to service your Babylock or vice versa. They can't get each other's parts because they are different companies.

I have a Babylock Ellegante and a cheaper Brother XR3140. They use the exact same feet so what does that tell you? Same bobbins too, just a different shade tells you to which machine they go to.

Many machines share feet and bobbins - I don't think that is relevant. What I do believe is that the machines are very similar, and what is important is the dealer. I have Babylock simply because I don't like the local Brother dealership

Wow. There's a lot of misinformation mixed in with truth in this thread. Brother doesn't own Babylock. Tacony does. Brother builds most of the Babylocks and yes they are a higher end, more expensive version of Brother machines. You're paying for the Babylock name after all.
There are many sewing machine factories in the world, but only 3 factories that build sergers.
There is a lot of crossover between brands any more. Brother and Janome are the two largest wholly owned companies who build most of what we see in the US(not counting SVP who own Singer/Viking/Pfaff). Many years ago Brother badged the majority of machines, now it's Janome. They both build and badge many machines for other brands.
Never think a particular dealer can't get parts for another brand. They (or their tech) choose what machines they will or won't service/work on, unless they're contracted to only service the brand they sell. Like Sears used to be with their Kenmore brand. Until a few years ago Sears repairmen were only allowed to service Kenmores.
The information I've said here comes from a few good sources, including an honest good man who was a Babylock dealer for many years.

Cari

I'm dying here. I have no trouble getting parts for Brother or Babylock. In fact, the vast majority of parts are interchangeable and are cross referenced so I can order from multiple suppliers. There is zero mechanical difference between Brother machines and the equivalent Babylock. The ONLY differences are cosmetic, software and support. Babylock also sells machines made by Janome, HandiQuilter and others. They only unique machines Babylock sells are their Overlock/Serger machines. Full disclosure, I worked for a dealer who sold both Babylock and Brother and serviced anything that came through the door.

Interesting. As I stated earlier in this somewhat dusty thread, I own 2 different Brothers, one is a smaller, less expensive machine, the other a larger, heavier-duty, more expensive machine. The smaller Brother does have plastic parts. However, my "Big Brother" as I call it, has metal guts. One of the things that sold me on the Big Brother was how many quilters, both in my local community and in online forums, love this machine and consistently use the same word to describe it: workhorse.

I think most, if not all, sewing machine manufacturers produce several different models in order to meet demand in such a wide marketplace. They have to have products to sell to all skill and income levels, from what one salesman described to me as "disposable starters", to the quality-built, high-end machines for experienced sewists with who have more disposable income to invest. I wonder if you only see the less expensive, plastic Brother machines in your shop because the more expensive Brothers don't require repair as often as the high-end Baby Locks, and hence your opinion of Brother is that it's a shoddily built product across the board.

Brother's THE Dream Machine and Baby lock's Destiny are the same machine manufactured by Brother International. The differences are cosmetic and software (Disney vs Nancy Zieman, no stitch creator on Destiny--Brother keeps that feature exclusive on their branded machines). In fact, the MSRP on both machines is identical, but I have found that Brother dealers will sell their machines for a lot less than Baby Lock dealers. My favorite Baby Lock dealer and my favorite Baby Lock educator were both quite miffed when I mentioned that the Brother branded machines can be obtained at much reduced prices. Yet the dealer admitted knowing that and was obviously annoyed by it saying she could not sell hers at those prices. Both the dealer and the educator refer to the different branded equivalent machines as the same machine--because essentially they are. But Baby Lock has a reputation of exclusivity which must be upheld, and they also have to purchase their machines from other manufacturers with associated costs. You pay for that. You also pay for the extra services offered at some Baby Lock dealers.

A last note, in comparing a Baby Lock and Brother machine, they need to be the equivalent machines, i.e. DreamWeaver XE and Unity, DreamMaker and Spirit etc. If one were to compare a Baby Lock high-end Brother-made machine to a lower-end Brother machine, of course there will be a huge gap in quality. Some of the lower-end Baby Lock's have been troublesome just as their Brother counterparts. Apples to apples, oranges to oranges...

I am a true Brothers fan. I have 3. One I bought in 1959, it is all metal and still works. I will never give it up. The second is a 1500, which only sews straight stitches. It is my "work horse". My last one is a Laura Ashley N2000. Has all the bells and whistles that I wanted. Paid $1500. for it about 7 years ago and I love it! Good luck and happy sewing whatever you decide. Just finished this quilt yesterday. Pieced and FMQ on my N2000.

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I feel the same as you about the Brother PQ1500.... Its an awesome horse....