I can understand - sort of - wanting to know the hours on a machine - but isn't it a useless piece of information? How are the hours computed? If it's the total number of hours the machine has been turned on, then mine would be elevated by the times I leave the machine on while I'm doing something else, sometimes (accidentally) overnight. I wonder if those hours subtract from the machine's life. I think the needle up/down count is slightly more useful if you're planning to buy a used machine, though I would not be discouraged from buying a well maintained machine with a high count. But now I'm wondering how many hours are on my vintage machines. (And it's impossible to know!)