A big questiuon to ask yourself is how often will you yse the fancy stitches?. personally I do not use any stitch but straight, zigzag , hemming stitch so I use my Brothers for the straight and my Singer singer for the other 2. If you issue is lighting then you can buy clip on lights that will probable give you better lightging than the machine . also if you are looking for an extension then check out this homemade extension on u-tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g14govA4pIM, My husband made this for my machine for about $30 and it is great. It really give you more room than an extension would. Aslo he took a table and cut down the lages so the height of the machine is good for me.