I sewed on my Mum's singer, it did what I wanted it to do, but was very basic. I used my sister's singer and it had it's quirks. My sister in law owned a White and it sewed beautifully. I got my first machine, a Singer in 1980, my late husband bought it for me for Christmas, I didn't have any problems with it. In 1985 he bought me my Janome Memory Craft 7000 and I gave the singer to a friend who used it up until last year. My Janome paid for itself a few times over and is still sewing like the day I got it. In almost 23 years it never saw the inside of a repair shop. If it acted up it was because it needed to be cleaned.
Two months ago I bought a Pfaff Performance 2056 and I love it! The IDT feature is awesome. My new machine shares the sewing table with the Janome and they get along just fine. I won't get rid of the Janome because it has sentimental value :)
I bought my daughter a Janome Jem for her first machine and that machine was a nightmare!