I have a 2011 Gammill Vision and I love it. Since then, I have found that you really can't "mess" up the machine. Yes, things can go wrong, but there has always been a solution. Gammill has excellent tech support and I have always been able to fix things by talking to the tech rep by phone. I don't have tension problems and I think this is because I have always used the Towa tension gauge for my bobbin. I don't use a gauge for the top because it doesn't need to be adjusted that often. The bobbin, however, can be tweaked with each bobbin change and if you change to a different type thread, you need to adjust. The more you use your machine, the less fear you will have, so I say just dive right in!