Thanx again for all your replies. I sure do appreciate your experience with these machines. Thank you for the throat measurements! Dolphyngyrl, are you saying the person returned a higher priced model and liked the pc420 (i.e. off amazon) more?? I'll keep adding everything you all contribute about any of these three machines into my "think tank", so please keep your opinions coming, esp. if there is anyone who has some particularly strong pros/experience with the pc420 or Q.S. 9960.