I don't think you can go wrong with a Brother machine. Although I do not have either of these machines I have two brothers, one pretty basic bought at walmart a few years ago and a brother pacesetter 8500 that i use for machine embroidery and fmq. Although I am sure there are better machines, these are great machines for the money. Brothers are very user friendly. I beleive you will have many happy years sewing on either of these machines.