To my eye, they are "Alessi" inspired, but that's mostly because they have an elliptical base plate. The big difference between these and most others, beside that they work above average well, is that the body of the machine is made from aluminum, so it is quite light weight. I personally prefer a faster gear ratio, while these are very smooth and under control, they are slow and so more about incremental perfecting than intuitive accuracy. I have probably been playing violin too much.