If you don't want one with bells and whistles the best Bernina ever made, according to my Bernina guy, was the 930. This is one that was made before computerization and while the parts were still 'hand-milled' (not sure what the term is, something like that). Mine is over 25 yrs. old and it is a little workhorse. I have never had any problem with it other than parts wearing out, like needing my feed dogs replaced because they were about smooth. I can go from sewing very thin fabric to thick without changing a setting. Never skips a stitch. For just basic sewing it is great! When he can get them, he sells them for about $750. I hope mine keeps sewing as long as I do! I don't care about embroidery or other computerized functions since my main sewing activity is piecing quilts. I hand quilt, so I don't need the machine to handle large quilts either.