Brother makes some good machines, but stay away from those cheap machines you find at Cosco, Walmart, Target and the like. They are mainly plastic, made in a third world nation, and will end up costing you more in repairs than you paid for it. And it still won't do what you want it to. But as I said, the better Brothers are nice machines. Having said that, I would look for a Janome or Bernina or Viking. Great workhorses. Singer can be a good machine in the right model. Being where you are, you may be better off looking around for a dealer who can service your needs without undue driving, and go from there. There are deals to be had. If you can wait for the after Christmas sales, you can probably get an even better deal. That's what I'm doing, even though it leaves me without a machine until then. I was about to buy a Janome when they jacked up the price in the pre-Christmas mark-ups. Just something to think about. Whatever you do, make sure you spend a couple of hours actually sewing on the model you intend to buy to make sure it's what you want.