And I beg to differ on the Pfaff and Viking machines.
I have a fairly new(2 years old) Viking (no service issues)and just bought a Pfaff Ambition which is comparable to my older Pfaff in materials and functions - both are great machines and both come in under $1000. To each their own when it comes to machines. More important to have service available because no matter how wonderfull everyone swears "their" machine is, sooner or later it needs a trip in, at least for a cleaning.