I will agree with you on the older Bernina 830. It will sew through anything. I have upholster sofa, chair, etc and it always did a beautiful job. If you are going to quilt with this machine, you may need the walking foot. Bernina has some of the most wonderful feet. I also, have several other machines that I like, but only used them on regular fabric. I feel the newer computerized machine will have more services calls then the older mechanical machines.