another part of research is to visit any dealers/repair shops in the area to see if you like the personnel there. Even if you get a great machine but have a shop with no customer service, you still may be stuck...know the people as well as the machine. some shops will charge you for a cleaning even if the fix is a tightening of a screw, while others will tighten the screw for free and tell you how to do it yourself....and dealser may have some great used machines that will have features you want but lower prices.