Decide what you want a machine to do then purchase the one with as much more as your wallet will allow. Janome just today came out with two new machines that are supposed to be fantastic---high end machines with mid range pricing. One of them is $499 and the other is $799. The last one has an automatic thread cutter and a wide feed dog that allows for one finger guidance instead of two hands and only weighs around 16 lbs. Go to a fabric store that sells and displays Janome machines and try them out. Any good dealer will have several models on display and allow you to sew on all of them so that you can find the one that best suits you. I don't have a Janome yet but I'm planning to before the year ends. I know many, many quilters that wouldn't have anything else.