Well -- My first thought is, do you need a serger?? My second thought is that the heavy duty Singer seems to be the best deal. Both sound like you could have potential problems. The first one won't use heavy duty thread -- does this mean you can't quilt on it? The second machine is for heavy duty work but one user doesn't seem to be able to do "delicate" work. I'd go for the heavy duty machine. The price seems to be very reasonable. :D