Another vote for the Singer Futura...I've had mine a good 10 years and used it a lot, and it is a very nice machine. One of the big selling points to me was that futura can use designs from any company, (designs meant for brother or janome, etc), where with some of the machines you are limited to their designs or cards with designs on them. Also...you generally get software to edit your own designs(auto punch), and you can use all of the free designs out there on the web.
One note of caution...the newest futura(quatra maybe..or something like that?) the user reviews aren't so hot...it has a huge hoop, but no smaller ones..so people are wasting huge amounts of backing and stabilizer every time they want to do a little design...maybe singer will come out with a smaller hoop for it, because otherwise everyone loves it.
The deals on HSN can't be beat...they have flex pay, but also usually come with extra software or feet that aren't available to the public.
I think that now, most any machine you get will be a good one, they have come a long way. You will love machine embroidery! I have good suppliers for thread, designs and backing so when you get a machine, post again and I'll point you in the right direction! Good LUck!