I have the Viking Ruby and I love it. It has a lot of great features like a bigger hoop and the endless hoop is also available. It does a great job as long as I know what I'm doing and that's not always the case; i'm still learning. I wanted to start off with the larger hoops and learn the machine and then go to the software. Eventually when I'm ready to move onto the next step then I'll get the software package that allows me to design and do more but I'm not there yet. If I got it now by the time I was ready to understand and use all of it's features there would be an upgrade and it cost me more so I might as well wait. You mention breaking the bank but that means different things to different households. I broke mine to get my Ruby but it was my gift to myself. I'll get a little of that back when I sell my Viking #1 system when it gets back from being checked out. Good luck with your search.