I totally understand where you are coming from. I have a kenmore/janome machine and a mega quilter; one has the cut thread option the other has the needle up/down and each has other features that I love so I knew when I got a new machine I wanted one machine that had all of the features that I wanted. I got the Ruby w/embroidery and love it. It has the needle up/down, the auto cut thread/the push button start where I don't have to use peddle (great for long seams) it automatically cuts the jump threads on the embroidery machine. Check out the new machine features and write down the ones you want and go from there. Good luck on your adventure.