Jim, I know what you mean about those who criticize other's choices. I've been in gun shops where the guys working there and some of the patrons that hang around will practically have a hemorhage if someone mentions anything but Glock, S&W, Remington, Weatherby, or whatever happens to be their brand.
I spent nearly 50 years of my life repairing and building things, so I think I can make an educated assessment about the quality of stuff. I don't mind people having their opinions; I've got a lot of them myself, but sometimes when people make a prejudiced judgement, they only display their ignorance.
After having read as many posts on all the various gun forums that I have, I can't think of a gun brand that hasn't been dumped on. So I guess it's like anything else; you pays your money and you takes your chances and hopefully if you draw a bad one, the manufacturer will make it right.
To tell you the truth, I'm really getting nervous about buying guns, because I've had an extremely long run of good luck. I haven't gotten a bad one yet--knock on wood. Maybe because of all the negitive posts that I've read, I've also developed a bit of a low expectation from some of the guns that I've bought and when they turned out to be really good, it's like a bonus.