I have a I have a Brother 1034D serger my hubby bought when I first started sewing, because my sewing teacher said it is nice for knits. I wanted to make T-shirts with long enough sleeves, and knit nightgowns.
Since then, I got roped into quilt classes and have been doing that. lol. The serger has been sitting around, although I bet I could have used it to make the fleece booties and other projects I've done, I found out since that I have an overlock stitch on my Janome. I checked out the Brother 1034D serger and it gets five stars for ease of use and function. The price is right, it was $165 at CostCo online. I don't have an account, but hubby used his boss's account. (He surprised me, I had told him I needed to learn to sew before I learned to serge.)
I envy those who have a self-threading serger. I am now taking a class, and surprised myself by already remembering how to thread it and then learned to do curves. Next week we do rolled hems. We are going to make napkins of cotton, and a scarf of slinky fabric. My teacher said self-threaders have their own issues, some love it, some run into problems.