I've had my Kenmore for about 17 years and it's wonderful. My sewing machine repairman says they are really good machines--like Janomes for durability--because of the metal frame and metal parts . I had it serviced only once in those 17 years (mostly because I didn't have any problems with it till a minor timing issue). I am about to buy another machine (Janome) only because I want to upgrade from a basic mechanical machine to a computerized one. I recommend Kenmores personally from my experience. Easy to use, easy to fix if they need to be.