If you want one for strictly piecing and quilting, I would like to suggest that you look for a Brother PQ 1500S. I bought mine from Amazon for somewhere around $500. No fancy stitches, no zig-zag, but great straight stitching and a good sized harp area for quilting. Has pin feed also to help the fabric along. Comes with the extension table to give a pretty nice area for quilting. Great machine for the money.