I understand that Brother makes two qualities of machine. They sell the lower quality to Walmart and similar stores and the high-end quality at sewing machine dealers. I've heard good things about the latter, bad things about the former. I once took apart a Walmart Brother machine to repair it for someone, and my opinion about the quality of that machine was very low. In fact, the parts were so weak - especially the tensioneer - that it was not fixable without a donor machine.
If it were me and I was looking for an inexpensive machine, I would wait until the time between Black Friday and the end of the year, and buy a Janome on sale. The quality of the cheaper Janomes is better than the quality of the cheaper Brothers, in my experience. Or, better yet, a 1960s or earlier good-quality vintage machine. (Don't buy Singer from the 1970s onward! The same goes for Simplicity.)
Last edited by cricket_iscute; 10-22-2013 at 11:13 AM.