Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I just received this sewing machine yesterday. So far I'm not impressed. The main trouble is the speed. It only has one and it's very fast -- like being in high gear all the time. This is an issue because the motor doesn't even move -- just hums -- with slight pressure on the peddle. To get the needle moving, you have to give it a little 'nudge' to overcome inertia in the over-geared motor, which causes the needle to race. Once the motor is moving, only then can you bring it down to a slow controlled speed. By then the stitch is crooked. I've managed to make maybe one straight stitch on some practice fabric. I'm also skeptical about heavy duty aspect. I was just running practice seems over some thin woven cotton cloth. Three layers caused some struggle. Again, you really had to goose the speed control to get the needle through the fabric, which caused it to race, which causes the feed dogs to not grip the fabric, which causes all the stitches to pile up. I don't see a foot pressure setting on the machine or in the manual either. Everything about this machine screams for a lower gear. I'm contemplating sending this one back. I'm also now very skeptical of Amazon reviews. This is the second thing I've purchased with near 5-star that turned out to not be very good according to outside reviews. Also, the controls are not very good. I kept wondering if there was even an overcast stitch. These goofy images of stitches don't make a lot of sense to me. I did find a key online, however, which is very helpful. Attached. This thing skips stitches. I'm going to buy a different machine and just throw this one out.