Singer made a good product for years. Unfortunately that time has passed. I grew up using Singers and when I was married in 1969 my husband bought a Singer sewing machine for his gift to me. Had nothing but problems with it. Every time I used it it would have to go back to the service guy and finally he got tired of fixing it and completely disassembled and reassembled it. He found it had been put together wrong at the factory and did work better for a time but still too many problems. I got so frustrated with it at one point that I took it out to the field behind the house and blasted it with my husbands shot gun. Most satisfaction I ever got from it! Have never and will never own another one which was manufactured after the 1960's. I now own my Mother's vintage Singer 301 and have never had one problem with it. My Viking Designer SE was the replacement for the wedding present and has never given me a problem either. I have owned Janome also and would recommend them also.