Once I bought 12 of them from a school - I got all but 2 sewing. I think one more would sew if I had all the parts. I had to sacrifice one machine for parts to make all the others work. I found them to be a good machine. It is no wonder people learned to sew on those machines. I think they are under valued and overlooked most of the time. They are about the same weight as a 301 - no the feed dogs don't drop but they don't have the annoying bobbin case the 301 has. I should stand them side by side and see the differences some time.