I have the Janome Gem for classes. It's about five year old now and I have never had a problem with it. I bought my DGD a Hello Kitty 3/4 size machine and it is exactly like the Janome Gem only smaller. She loves it. Several guild members bought the Hello Kitty machine to bring to classes. It's fun and not a toy. The 1/2 size is a toy. I would certainly check out the Gem line of machines. The newer models have more features now. Check Kenmores, they are Janomes. The portables are identical.