I have had a cheap Brother and am now using an expensive one with all the bells and whistles. The cheaper one was a little work horse, ended up selling it to a friend who needed that type of machine. My only complaint was the narrow throat as I love to free motion quilt. My expensive one has a nice wide throat plus all the other goodies that make it a pleasure to use. I went to a quilt retreat this past weekend, took my light weight Janome and kept looking for the thread cutter!!! I would highly recommend a Brother.