I have a Babylock Ellageo which I purchased around 2000. In my opinion, Babylock outranks all the others I have seen used. However, Brother is a very good one too . Keep in mind, you will need software to open and export your designs to your machine and I really would like one that connects directly to my Emb. machine as this would save on extras I have to buy. If you can't get one like that then do get one that has a USB port for transfering designs. ( And by the way, you will prob. use it a lot)