I have the quilters choice. I've had it for 4-5 years and love it! At the time I think it was around $800 on sale. I moved up from a 70's Vigorelli that is a work horse but very hard to find someone to work on it and parts are hard to find. My Babylock does demand a spa retreat at the dealer about every 18-24 months depending on how much I've been using it. I clean it with every bobbin change but the tension and/or straight stitch will give me trouble until I break down and take it in for the servicing. It has the needle threader, thread cutter, and lots of decorative stitches. When I bought mine I had to drive over an hour to get to a city to buy one somewhere other than wal-mart or online. I researched for several months before making my decision, I also looked at janome and pfaff. Went with babylock because of the dealer. They had the best perks and customer care after the fact for me. Go in for several test drives of the machines, if they act like you're wasting their time then they aren't a dealer that will take care of you after the sale. Good luck and have fun shopping!