I have a Viking Platinum and love it. Granted, I don't do FMQ so the throat space was not an issue for me. I does have needle/up down, lots of embroidery stitches which, again, I don't really use. It is a workhorse and very sturdy which is what I was looking for. I do know they have a couple of newer models with larger throat space as well as the auto up/down foot. I paid about $1200 for mine when it was retailing for close to $2000 at the time. The Viking dealer by me will almost always discount to this level. Not sure if there are always 'promotions' going on or if there is just that much mark up. But I am very happy with my Viking. I agree the Bernina's are nice machines but way out of my price range for the must have's I was looking for at the time.