I'm not the OP, but I had considered buying a featherweight since I was looking for light and portable and mostly for piecing, but in considering the current price of them in my area ($400), plus it would probably need to be checked out by a repair shop and may require maintenance (minimum $100), and if it needed a new motor ($150 for the part) or other parts, the costs were just racking up. Combined with the fact that with a used machine purchased from an individual, there is no return policy, it wasn't worth the risk for me.
At least with a new (cheap) machine, it wasn't much upfront cost and I could return it if there were issues (which there have been for me). I knew Singers were cheaply made and not of good quality anymore, so I was prepared for problems at least
