This is true however with some reservations. The plastic being used by the top makers for their high end machines is of much better quality than what was used in the early efforts. "Home owner" machines have come a long way as well. High end machines are very good when made by high quality companies. But they are also very expensive. $3K and up. That's a lot of money to invest in making gear. So the general wisdom of buying older machines is valid but those machines are becoming more scarce o0n the market. Our mechanic was lamenting the lack of those old steel.cast iron machines because people are not getting rid of them.
A lot of what is showing up on craigslist are machines from the problematic era which is one reason I advise against purchasing from there unless you really do your homework. Another issue to be careful of is availability of parts and service. Viking/Husquevarna, Bernina and some other top makers will only supply parts to authorized dealings meaning you independent mechanic can not get repair parts even for the older machines. As dealers close and consolidate to major metro areas this can become a problem for those of us in more small town/rural areas.
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