401 is what I learned on and was the first machine I bought when I got married which I thought would be the one I used the rest of my life. Can't beat the construction of older machines. That said, we have run into a number of the 401s with problems that are a challenge to fix and don't always handle wellonce a problem has occured because it was not addressed early on. For 50.00 take it for a test drive. Clean it oil it and check every funtion- they want to sell they'll let you do it- go with needles, thread, fabric with stiffener behind it etc to test this out. Unless of course hey want to drasticaly drop the prive and you feel it's worth more to just take it home.