All my friends make fun of me.....I never read manuals on anything until I have at least tried to make it work! I am 72 and this works for me! Those same friends call me to come over and troubleshoot their machines (and appliances) because they can't figure them out even with a manual...so I guess it depends on your comfort/confidence level! I have found I can sit down and thread any sewing machine without direction (sergers are a different story, so I have the BL, problem solved) and there are only so many ways to make a bobbin work, trial and error never broke anything....yet!