Several friends bought $100-$150 machines to carry to guild meetings, and every one of them is sorry! They chatter, walk all over the table and don't sew through 6-8 layers of fabric (like the top of a pillowcase seam at the hem~). But I don't want to carry my Viking Diamond to meetings! So I got a little Janome for $150 (on sale was $350) and have been happy. By the way, the needle threaders are the first thing to mess up...I have had the Diamond in for other service issues over the past few years, and the threader gets readjusted each time and is messed up so soon I don't bother any more! So don't buy a machine just for the threader, there are little white plastic threaders that attach w/velcro to the side of the machine that work like magic! The Babylock serger came with one and I ordered several more. Linda