I can not comment on your 2 choices. I just bought a used Babylock Eclipse for $150. It is old but still works great. I love the air threading. I really don't see using it much since I am a quilter.But I have been working with it for the last couple of weeks. My first project was to practice by overlocking the edge of a large piece of fleece and making a fleece throw. Then I have played with it to gather fabric for the skirt of T-shirt dresses. It doesn't automatically gather as much as I had hoped (when using a ruffler foot). I like really full gathers. This was minimal. However, I am still using it with the differential feed (no ruffle foot) and then pull the needle threads. I think this is a little easier than long basting stitches on my regular machine and then pulling the threads.