I have two Vikings. One is a Quilt Designer II, the other is a Designer SE. I bout the Designer II first, and I found out rather quickly that the add-ons were going to cost more than I would have spent to just buy the SE in the first place. I love my SE. It's great for embroidery and sewing. But my Designer II has more room under the arm for quilting. I love them both, really.
I've gotten used to the needle threader and automatic lowering of the presser foot. So, it's tough going back to a machine that's not so computerized. I end up wondering where the lever is for the presser foot, or if it has one.