Well, I know they haven't the best ratings but I grew up sewing on Singers. I will admit that the recently manufactured(last 10-15 years) basic models leave something to be desired. But I purchased the Singer HD 110 from the Home Shopping Network(HSN.com) a few years ago after being bored one day and tuning in to their sewing show. It's not pretty, it's not light-weight, and it only has 10 pretty basic stitches BUT it is a work horse.
The main reason I got it was for the price,only $299, and it came with a great acrylic extension table. And those babies are close to $100 on their own. And it's fast. It's description states 1100 stiches a minute which is comparable to my serger speed. The body is all metal, which makes it not a light-weight, but so are all the moving parts so it will probably be quite a while before anything wears out. It's sturdy,fast and probably a little noisier than average but it can sew through layers of denim or fine chiffon. I have made quite a few quilts from flannel,cotton and denim and it can handle it all.
I don't mean to sound like a Singer commercial but I've been very satified with this model and if you go to the Singer web site they have several machines in the "Heavy Duty" and "Commercial Grade" models.