I have 3 baby locks #1 Baby Lock Ellisimo, that I use only for my embroidery, for I have two others to do my sewing.
Baby Lock Quilters Quest, and Baby lock Decorator Choice. Plus I have a small Janome that I take to classes and a baby lock serger. I have had my Ellisimo for over 3 years I use it all the time, it is very user friendly. I have also seen and used other embroidery machines and I am sure glad that I have the Elilsimo. It does everything thing I want and more. I am able to combine designs and make what I want, I didn't need any software to do this. Have a couple small programs one to change the fonts and the other to change the designs to bigger or smaller, that is most all I need. Have other friends that a better software that If I need something they can do it for me. Always try out your machines before you buy one, at a good dealer that can help you. I don't think I had more than a 1/2 hour of instructions to figure out the machine. I have never looked at the book. Also a dealer can help you with any problems you might have.