gail-r, I had a Viking Saphire 870 and just traded it last week for an new Espire. It is so much nicer. What is you opinion and experience with Espire? I used it in the Eleanor Burns class in January at Road to California quilt show when they provided machines for the day long class, and loved it, and it is what she uses. The store I got it from offers 20 free classes to learn how to use it, so I thought I would get used to it first then take the classes. I have already put together an entire quilt since I got it 3 days ago. I love the embelishment stitches, although there are not very many compared to the Saphire 870, but the machine is so much smoother and easy on my fabric that the loss of designs seems worth it. Anyway...any opinions on the Espire, while on the subject of Baby Lock, would be great. I also have a Designer I Viking as a back up machine and it does embroidery, so I didn't need another embroidery machine, and it runs really smooth and nice compared to the 870, also. I use it to take to classes.