I have a X-Carve 1000mm with Dewalt 611 spindle… and the only modification i’ve made (other then a crappy dust shoe) is the simple bolts to stiffen the X carriage:
If it takes you 30 minutes to tighten ~6 bolts & screws then you probably shouldn’t have a CNC 
(you can see them in this picture… No drilling needed. just push the bolt through, attach the waster on the bottom then the nut… repeat 6 times)
Its a nice to do ‘$5 upgrade’ but you can get by fine without it as long as your not cutting Aluminum. (But for ~$5… its a no brainer)
As for breaking bits… I had never touched a CNC machine until my X-Carve showed up in December. In the 100 days i’ve had it i’ve put ~50 hours cutting time on it (spindle running time). I’ve cut hardwood, softwood, acrylic, pvc and 6061 Aluminum… and i haven’t broken one bit.
I’ve cut into my clamps, plunged into my waste board, had pieces shift while cutting, had ‘tabs’ break and pieces go flying… but never a broken bit.
IMHO… the way to be happy with the X-Carve is to learn how it works. Learn about speed’s & feeds. Learn about what bit to use when. Learn how to do maintenance on it.
My ‘Stock’ X-Carve 1000mm has never let me down.