If you don't have a slant machine it will be nice for you to try one. I really like the slant needle/shank. Very easy to see the work. But I don't FMQ (yet, anyway). If you're feeling very stingy with your "life minutes", and you want a ZZ slant machine, you could wait until you find a 403 or 401 or 500 or 503, but it might be decades before you find one for 10 cents a pound. And the 404 will be easier to service because it doesn't have zz or a cam stack. I like the drop-in bobbin, too. If you're used to vertical shank machines with side loading bobbins the 404 is like another world. Why not explore?