I have the first embroidery machine that Bernina sold. I paid $1800 for it with my employee discount. It has worked well for me for almost 20 years. I purchased thousands of dollars worth of software for it over the years and I can no longer get replacement hoops for it etc. I purchased the Brother PE78OD last year as it uses the same PES system and can also use patterns on a USB stick. I think I paid a little over $700 for it. It has bigger hoops and seems to work well. Ironically my Bernina machine was created from a Brother patent. Over the years I have used my embroidery machines a lot. I like the idea that I can have something running on the embroidery machine while I am sewing on my regular machine at the same time. Being able to load the designs into the machine from a USB stick elimantes the need for a Magic Box.