I have bought up and down both. Depends on what you want to sew and how many features you feel you really need for your projects. I inherited my mom's Singer treadle but passed it on to my daughter. I have several Singer featherweights, an old tailor's machine in a little "suitcase", a couple of no name portables, an upholstery machine, a Pfaff portable and two Babylock portables. I really like the features on the newer machines so use them mostly. The features I like best are the needle threader (vision problems), and the thread cutter, plus a variety of buttonholes. The Pfaff has a built in walking foot that is truly wonderful. Decide what you want/need and go from there.