If you are not doing anything fancy I would not spend the money on the self threading ones, I sat down for a demo on threading a brother PRW and it didn't look all to terrible. I am also still in your boat, and have seen the brother, the juki, and the babylock. I would love a self threading but the cheapest is 1200 and if you are not using it for clothes and not using it alot it would be a waste of money. I have not made my decision as of yet but the juki 655 did very much impress me and they seem to be quite well rated. The brother ones also seem to get good rating for a beginning serger for me it is between the juki 655 and brother PRW5234, although you could probably get away with the brother 1034D since you don't need the serger but for basic stuff. The only thing that makes me hesitate on the juki is less feet are included, and since the machines cost about the same in the 500 range i would have to shell out more money on feet down the line.