See if you can go up to a Ruby, its a great machine, has lots of newer features that you'll love and yes, except for the walking foot, it'll use the same ones as 1+. Its easy to use and uses some big hoops. I started off with the #1+ and then the Ruby and now the Diamond Deluxe. love all the machines and if you get them from a dealer, they'll be recently serviced, have classes and at least some warranty. Most dealers can get them for you at 0 financing, no matter which one you use. I bought my Ruby used obout 5 yrs ago for a little over 4000 so they should be a good price now too, can use usb plus usb cables to transfer designs and it comes with the 5D organizer that helps store your designs, you can even do some editing like getting rid of un needed jump stitches, etc. mrpatience.com has some great videos on the organizer and other Viking software. The Ruby also has self adjusting tension so I never had any tension problems. Check them out, you'll love it.