I have a Pfaff 2144 embroidery machine and I too wanted something for a back up machine. I chose a Singer 500. It does beautiful straight stitching, several combination fancy stitches by dialing different combinations and also has several cams that you can just pop in and make some very nice stitches. I chose it because it is the last of the machines that are all metal and no plastic parts to lose tension or break. I bought it on E-Bay under 200.00 and it has served me fantastically well.