I bought a used Babylock Ellegante 2 from a dealer and am very pleased with it. It was 2k used though.I can use a USB stick. I also would not buy one that had a proprietary card. When you do buy...I have been pleased with metro thread. The price is great and haven't had any issues with the thread itself. I'm using my machine for piecing too...it came with a lot of quilting features. I'd eventually like to buy a machine for piecing and use the ellegante solely for embroidery. I appreciate having the support of a dealer because when I first got it I had all kinds of problems with stitching..it turned out with my lack of experience I wasn't threading it properly...needed to get it in all the little hidden grooves inside the machine and after she watched me and showed me how she does it all the issues went away.