I bought mine when the 440QE first came out. I had just retired and had some buy out money. Went to look at machines with a friend, because I was not a sewer and wanted to get into quilting. She tried out the 440 and said she would love to have it, but had just bought a new other Bernina. On her recommendation I bought it. I don't regret it although at the time I thought it was a lot of money. Later I bought a Janome Gem to take to sit and sew, but only because it was much lighter and I wanted a back up machine in case the 440 had to go into the shop. No comparision between machines. I think the Bernina will sew through anything. The 440 has only been in to be cleaned once and never have had any other problems.