Keep in mind brother makes two lines, mass market and dealer. The quality of the mass market line is not the same as through dealers. The dealer machines are very good. The mass market, comparable to other mass market machines...good enough for many people, but will not stand up to heavy duty use.
That said with my recent purchase I went with a Bernina. I can use huge embroidery hoops. The brothers I looked at all limited me to small ones.