I have an inexpensive Brothers machine purchased at Wal Mart when they were on clearance and it has worked just fine for my every day sewing.

If you buy a cheap machine, you get a cheap machine. It doesn't matter much where you get it. I would prefer to buy a really good used machine instead. Check with your dealer or watch on e-bay or your local thrift store. I believe the Brother was bought out by Babylock and those are wonderful machines. I think the Brothers are much better than they used to be but still would spend the money to buy a Babylock or another more expensive machine.

I have had 2 brother machines from walmart....(both before I was a member here and became educated)....I guess I sewed them to death as both died within six months....one of them was the cs6000.....took to repairman and he said it would cost more to repair than the original price of machine.....decided right then and there to never buy another brother....bought a used Janome 6600 from dealer....best decision I've ever made in regards to quilting.....it showed me just how cheap the brother machine was made.

I bought a Brothers machine from Walmart many years ago and it is still going strong.

I have a Brothers machine I bought there for the RV , it works just as good as the Brothers I bought at the sewing shop.
I sew my quilt blocks on it when we travel.

I don't think its fair to say that it's a bias against Walmart or that if it was bought at a lqs I'd be singing a different tune.

A lot of people don't realize there is an extreme difference in quality in trade tools. I can go tractor supply and but a set of screwdrivers for $20 and maybe they might last a few months before going to crap or spend the extra and get snap on tools that I know are too quality and will last a long time and have a guarantee.

For me it comes down to quality. You don't get the same type of quality nowadays with big box stores as you get from machine dealer.

I have a Brother SE 350 I purchased at Wal-Mart around 6 or 7 years ago. It is my main quilting machine. It is a real workhorse. I use it about every day and have had no major problems. I of course take it in annually to have it cleaned. It has a wonderful applique' stitch and I like the needle threader and the thread cutter button. I would recommend it to anyone.

You'll find this if you dig around the old posts, but the big box store machine (walmart, Joann , Costco etc) may be made by the same company, but they ARE a lower quality than dealer machines. To some people, cost is the only consideration, the fact that they are a lower quality may not matter. To other people, cost is not as much of an problem ,and a higher quality machine and dealer service backup is worth the extra money. Yes, you can probably get a serviceable machine at walmart, or a lemon at a dealer store, but just be aware of the facts before you decide.

I bought my Grand-daughter-in-law a Brother XR1355. I bought it at Costco for 135.00. I think it is a 250 dollar machine...I figure it is cheap enough if it breaks she is not out much.

What ever you do, do not purchase the Brother Project Runway from WalMart. That was the machine that showed up on a news story, where a machine tech took it apart on camera to show that there was not a metal frame inside. A lady in the story had purchased because her machine had died while doing costumes and it broke a few hours later. This is not to say that Brother doesn't make machines that last, they have machine with metal frames, but the light weight ones like Project Runway are not sturdy machines and will not hold up.