I don't completely disagree with what the others have said about new singers. I had a Singer Futura 350 sewing/embroidery machine for a while and it wouldn't embroider correctly. Eventually I got fed up and told the dealer I either wanted my money back or a machine that worked. They offered to discount a newer model (also Singer) and my husband decided to get it. I've had it about a year and so far I can't complain. It is a Singer xl-400. I only use it for embroidery, or for those times when I need a fancy stitch. I'm sure there are other more capable machines out there, but this one just happened to be within the budget. Maybe I just got lucky this time.