I have the Brother NQ1400e which is the precursor to the 1600e. I've been using it extensively for over 3 years and I paid $1999 (canadian) for it at that time. I've embroidered almost anything you can possibly imagine with my machine and have never been unhappy. I had to learn some stuff about threads and bobbins of course but I've had a blast with my machine. I say go for it. I don't think you'll regret it. I also like having a separate embroidery machine from my sewing machine so I can have two things happening at the same time. The dealers will tell you that you need to buy expensive thread for the machine to work properly. I have all the thread colours from ThreadArt, super cheap for us in Canada, and I stopped having problems when I loaded the thread on a stand and leave the spool vertical. Feel free to ask me if you have any questions.