The Janome mini is what I bought for my niece. At the time it was on sale for $50. She still uses it to piece and make small items. Her school had a fundraiser "Crafts by Kids". The children had the fundraiser after school during latchkey. I gave her a bag of scraps and a few other larger pieces. They were able to take their tools to school and demo if they wanted. She made about $100.00. The children who participated paid for a trip to the state capital. She really likes her machine and borrows my 401 from time to time since it's level and in a desk cabinet. going on 2 years and she maintains her own machine. She refers to the manual often. She's 10 now. She also goes on You Tube to check out her next machine says right now it's a little overwhelming. Wants my 401.