I might add that the Brother 1500 mentioned here a few times is on sale for $599 if you look. That's just a great deal for a solid work-horse mechanical. It does just do a straight stitch but it has a high-lift, auto thread-cutter, pin-feed, knee lever and 9" of harp space. Mostly metal. That leaves $1200-$1300 for a very nice computerized model with the decorative stitches and free-arm. Also, you might like to check out the janome 6300 ($999) that does not have the accufeed or as many stitches as the 6600 but if you go with 2 machines, that might be ok because the 6600 has plenty (enough for sure), but not a load of decorative stitch patterns anyway. The Janome 5200 is nice for the stitches and does NOT eat fabric but no auto thread-cutter. It has everything else. BabyLock/Brother has some nice models too at around $1000 with many stitches and features plus the excellent auto threader and cutter.