I was in your same shoes a few months ago, I have owned almost every brand of sewing machine in my 30+ years of sewing. In the last couple years I have had 4 sewing machines and was so discouraged, I just wanted a sewing machine that would sew anything, and sewed perfect stitches. One of them was a high end Brother that I had really researched, and had great reviews, but it set up on me after sewing on it three times, and I was only sewing burp clothes at the time. After making the 2 hour (one way) trip to the dealer a couple times, I finally didn't bring it home again, as it never sewed right after the first mishap. I settled for a Brother SE400 (as I was in the middle of a quilt for my daughter-in-laws's baby shower in a couple weeks, I was embroidering sock monkeys on the blocks and needed a brother machine to finish the project), and I have to say that that machine is pretty impressive for the price, it does really nice embroidery, but at Christmas time I was sewing paint smocks for my grandsons on waterproof material and it would keep skipping stitches, (now you can expect that from a cheaper machine, but not a high end one.) So I started researching again, and after reading such great reviews on this site and patternreview.com about the Juki 600, I looked into the machine, but was still not sure, I thought that I wanted to try another Viking, I say another, because I had owned a top of the line years ago, but it was in the shop more than my house, I finally traded it in for a Bernina, and that was a nice machine, but I never really bonded with that machine, I had it for years, but never really loved, it, (I actually sold it to buy the high end Brother.) Well before I purchased the Juki I called two different shops (there are no dealers within 100's of miles so I had to buy it online) I asked both what they recommended, (I didn't tell them I was interested in the Juki) I told both that I wanted a machine that would sew anything, and I wanted perfect stitches, both without missing a beat stated a Juki 400 or 600, and since the price was almost the same, I went with the Juki 600 because of the added options. And I have to say it is the best machine I have ever owned, it sews beautiful, and it is the quietest machine I have ever sewed on. I am in love!!!! I purchased it from Ken's Sewing Center and they have been wonderful, they threw in extra needles, bobbins and a Juki book, but best of all the machine is just perfect for me. I have never had a machine that I loved as much as this one. I wish you luck in your search, I hope in the end you are as happy with your machine as I am with mine.