I have an Espire and love that machine. The only thread she chokes on is Clark's Dual Duty. Everything else works like a charm. She does have a special foot that adjusts to the seam height although I always just muddle through. She does great stitches (zig-zag, blanket, etc) and I like that I can adjust the motor speed. Lighting is real good and it has a decent throat space. Threading the needle is a breeze and you can have all the settings for needle and foot how you like it. I would buy that machine again in a heart-beat.
One thing I learned about FMQ is that I don't need to set the stitch length to zero. THAT just gives me tiny angry stitches. I put the stitch length to 3 or 3.5 and do much better.