I bought the Babylock Ellure Plus about a year ago and I love it. Brother is made by Babylock - or vice versa. I had a cheap Brother from Walmart, $125.00, that I used for years until I wanted an embroidery machine. My niece now uses the Brother and is very satisfied with it. It has a thread cutter and auto threader and an extension table. Quite a lot for $125.00. The first embroider machine i bought was a Brother, about $300 and did a great job. Never any problems with it. Then I wanted a machine that embroidered on a larger field . That's when i bought the Ellure Plus. My point is that Brother makes a really good machine - no matter the price range. All my machines go to the shop once a year for a D & C (dusting and cleaning) and are worry free if I make sure I do this all the time. In between times at the shop I keep the lint out of the bobbin area using an old make up brush to clean out the lint.