Recent Brother machines are really excellent - and the prices are great for the quality and features that you get. I love my little $200 Brother serger (1034D, from walmart.com) I am pretty sure that it is mechanically identical to a Babylock - and cosmetically, they're very similar, too. I think that either Babylock manufactures it for Brother or the same third party manufactures both of them.
The Brother SE400 embroidery machine is only $349 with a $30 rebate at walmart.com:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Brother-Se...chine/14237607 - this machine has a really good reputation, even though it has only a 4X4" field.
The Brother with a 5X7" embroidery field is only $670:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Brother-Co...-Size/12542647 This will be the next one that I buy.
I don't usually bad-mouth any machine, but after this Futura embroidery machine lemon, I doubt that I will ever buy a new Singer again.