I was a Necchi girl (high shanks) all the way til I joined here, my Necchi's transformer blew out and the peeps over on the Vintage Machines Forum enticed me over to the dark side. I sew most of the time on a singer 401A, which is a slant shank. I love the old girl, but I really think I break more needles on her than I did on my Necchi. It only takes a teeny bit too much push or pull on the fabric and Wang broken needle! The other thing that is good about a low or high shank machine is that you can get a snap-on ankle, and use all sorts of snap on feet. Hemming! Cording! You Name It-ing! You can do it all. Slant shank- not so much. Or really just about none at all. There are a few slant shank snap-on feet made for one of the higher # series (600? 700? I don't know but I'm sure someone does and will say so in a minute here) but only a few.
This makes me feel like I should re-arrange the sewing room so I can sew with my other Necchi for a while. Sigh.