I have this machine and use it daily-haven't really done a whole lot of free motion but I use many of the stitches-the only thing I noticed is that you have to check your stitch settings evry time you turn it on but it may be just my machine cause I was keeping my pins in a magnet dish next to it for awhile when I started noticing this problem. I don't want an expensive machine cause it comes with expensive repairs when it breaks-my annual cleaning and service runs about 50$ Enjoy it- it's a great work horse