Originally Posted by
Treasureit
I have a Viking SE that I bought when it was the high end machine...I still use it and love it. I do regret that I spent so much because I didn't really enjoy the embroidery part of it...so I feel I have wasted that.
I have the same machine and don't really use the embroidary either. If I had to do it over again, I might not have gotten it but since we can't time travel yet...I still enjoy my SE . There are a lot of features that I jabsolutely love.
Another thing you may want to look at is the cost for servicing/cleaning. If I would have known how much it would cost for service-I'm used to cleaning and oiling my old machine and only taking it in when I had a problem.
See if you can play with the different brands and get a feel for the bells and whistles. The high end machine will be the clearance one in a year or 2. Find a dealer you like, play with the machines. Keep an eye out on Craigslist, I've seen some pretty high end machines for sale recently.