Jonathan, I agree that just because something costs more it isn't necessarily better. The variation in quality for machines though only holds true within a fairly narrow range. An $800 machine might be higher quality than someone elses $900 or $1000 machine and an $8000 machine might be better than another $8500 machine but you can't compare quality when the price gets much farther apart. Ultimately the market will crucify the companies that don't offer appropriate value. Look at the auto industry. You can compare an Audi to a BMW but not to a Chevrolet. some of the comparisons on this forum are about that far apart. The Chev might work just fine but that doesn't mean the components are of as high a quality. For a Grizzly to be built to the same standards as a Martin it would have to be priced much closer to a Martin. Lexus started out somewhat lower than Audi until the market was convinced of its quality and now it is priced higher. Dave