I am so happy in the middle. I would run away screaming from a treadle...just seems like too much work....too scared of hand crank. Worried more about accidental vaccinations than breaking the machine. Computerized machines scare me just as much. Give me a plain electric machine that goes forward and back and I'm a happy girl. I don't use a zig zag stitch often enough to worry about a zigzagging attachment. I just get my little janome out and zigzag with her. She's my first purchase and I simply can't part with her, even if she is so young compared to my others. I am thrilled with all the videos though.