I love my Brother PQ1500. It is straight stitch only, has a thread cutter, and needle down. It is great for piecing and quilting. It has a wider throat 7" or 9", I forget. It only costs about $500. My other favorite is my new Janome 8900. It is my first Janome, but it is a really solid great machine. It has lots of stitches, wide throat-11", and lots of included feet. It is more costly though for about $2500. Both are great for quilters. I actually use the Brother mostly for piecing and the Janome for quilting.