Not knowing how much I would use one, I bought a used one from CL for very cheap. It might be a brother, does not have 'air' threading or anything else fancy. Had it serviced and ended up taking a very useful class with lots of documentation included. I've used it a couple of times since and am quite pleased with the $$ spent/value for my purposes. For machine, service, class and travel to/from (it was @ 45 min away) I was under $150. Make sure you get one with differential feed to give you more options as you progress. Mine is a 4 thread. In my research, again, the great number of threads it will handle gives you more options.