Originally Posted by Skyangel

Where do you live in Oregon and where did you get the $179 quote? I live in Oregon too and if you are in the Portland area I can probably refer you to a very good sewing machine tech who works out of his home shop. I had a major problem with one major sewing shop/dealer in the area and what they did to my Mom's machine. PM me if you want more info. My decision of which machine might depend on what types of sewing you plan to do. The 401 is a great machine (INHO one of Singer's best ever) and I learned to sew on my Mom's. But it has it's limitations. Her's hasn't been used since the 70's because knits cams out and it didn't have any stretch stitches for knits. Other that that I would highly recommend the 401 and a lot of shops just want you to buy new. The 401 has many stitches built in and besides cams 1-4 that came with it there were about 5 more that would add to it. If you PM, I can give you those numbers too.