I love my babylock espire, but it cost me 1800.My thoughts maybe the brother NX650Q, don't know how much they run, they have the new brother Laura ashley NX-800 i think it is, don't know if it replaced the NX-650Q, but they come with an extension table, they just don't have the automatic fabric pressure adjuster like the espire and QC1000. The espire sews like a dream, FMQ is not bad with practice. Just test drive a model, wouldn't go by personal experiences because everyone is different, you can always see bad and good ratings for the same machine, it really is personal preference