I just purchased an Elna 664 a few months ago. It was $500 on sale. I liked that it wasn't as loud as others in my price range. It also has color coded thread paths and a setting reminder on the machine for the different stitches. I have rethreaded it 4 or 5 times to make certain that I could (once before I purchased it). For me, that has not been a big deal at all.
I haven't used it a lot, but like what I have done. In addition to writing down my settings, I keep a sample.