Thanks cwessel47 for your opinion--I really appreciate the information. I have a new "plastic" computerized machine but it doesn't compare with my old Singer that bit the dust a few years ago. I know that if anything happens to my new one I will not be able to fix it myself. I could sew anything on my old Singer too without any problems, and was surprised to be quilting through several layers with my new machine and it started smelling "hot"! I can see that it will probably not stand up to the sewing I do. A 5" throat on your featherweight is only an inch smaller than the one on my new machine, believe it or not! So I've been thinking really hard about getting a featherweight to have something portable to take with me to sew with friends, which I like to do. I just find it odd that I never hear anything bad about them, which is why I'm asking for the negatives before I spend the money on one (although I think it would be perfect for what I want to do).