I have had myy 6600 since Feb 2010 and LOVE it. My thread came out of the takeup lever every now and then but not often but one of the girls that was in a class I was taking was having a lot of problems and the instructor (who is also the dealer) gave the same advice that Gale did, go the opposite direction and she has had no problems since. I thought about upgrading to the 7700 but it is double the money that my 6600 was so I'm thinking about getting the 350E so that I can learn embroidery unless I decide I want to go all out and get the 11000SE LOL