I have a brother 1500, I use it for FMQ, $500 is a heck of a deal, I'd go for it. Only maintenance is it needs to be oiled frequently but it has those handy dandy oil holes that you just drop your oil into. Also, I FMQ with the machine in front of me vertically, not horizontally and the bobbin area is not in front of the needle but to the left of the needle, which means it is facing me when I FMQ and so it's super easy to change the bobbin when I run out of thread.