I own several machines.
Pfaff
Singer 15-91
Janome 1600
Brother Nouvelle 1500s
Brother SE270D
Singer 201, stretched to 18"
Janome serger
Of all these machines, the Brother 1500 (I call it "Big Brother") is my absolute favorite. That machine is a simple, rock-solid, heavy-duty machine. If it was an automobile, it would be a Ford F250 pickup. Dependable, metal not plastic, well-built, can handle heavy loads.
However. You're wanting something smaller, so let me talk for a bit about my Brother SE270D ("Baby Brother"), which is a small, lightweight embroidery machine, more of a Honda Civic, if you will. My husband bought it from Overstock about 10 years ago, and it had been re-manufactured. I played with the embroidery function until I decided I wasn't really into embroidery, and got hooked on quilting instead. It was my "daily driver" for several years and has NEVER let me down. There are two reasons why it is now my backup machine instead of my main machine:
A) I needed more harp space. The Big Brother has 9", the Baby Brother has 5".
B) The Baby Brother has an LED lamp that is not replaceable. It still works, but has dimmed quite a bit. I could not figure out how to access the lamp, so I took it to the repair shop, and was told it's not replaceable. The repairman insinuated that Brother figures when the LED burns out, the machine would be replaced; to them it's a disposable model. Engineered obsolescence and all that. I found this mildly annoying, but considering the thousands of hours I had that light on, I figure I got more than my money's worth. It still works great, I just use a gooseneck lamp aimed at the presser foot now.