I just had a chat with my fantastic repair man .... I had gotten a Singer (newer model) from a thrift store ..and it was not sewing very well.........he checked it for me, told me not to waste money fixing it , that the cheap design would give me nothing but problems...he then told me if I was buying any of the more modern machines, (and I quote here) "Do NOT buy a Singer OR a Brother....buy an Janome"...............and that is from a first class A+ repair man at a top shop here in town...