Every one is going to tell you something different. Test drive a machine and get one from a good dealer. A dealer is important for the high end machines. That being said....I'm a Pfaff girl myself. I have a Creative Sensation Pro and I love it.

My first embroidery machine was a Viking in 2000 - I quickly needed/wanted a machine that could do more! Almost 20 years later I still have that machine — I only use it for sewing now. I have 5 Babylock embroidery machines and love them a lot. I think all embroidery machines are good...to me the difference is the supplies you use — stabilizers, thread, and needles are the keys to a successful stitch out. Good Luck!

This is kind of like asking someone what is the best breed of dog. There is no simple answer, and we all prefer the dog we have now or had growing up.

I agree that all the brands I have seen do a good job, so I might advise letting go of brand as your main criteria and just going to try some different machines and see what is in your budget and which interface and/or features appeal to you. There is no absolute best, because people's projects, budgets, materials, experience, education, support, etc, all varies so much. What is best for me may seem awkward for you, or too expensive, or not fancy enough....maybe you want lasers and cameras and scanners, or maybe you want bare bones.

Brother has a great range of models and prices, including some entry level types (and all the way up to cutting edge gizmos). So many people do recommend them for beginners or folks on a budget. Excellent machines with a wide range of options. On the other hand, Bernina has a narrower range, so you would have to buy midrange or high end only, no embroidery offered on their low end of budget (Although they just released a cute little Bernette 79 that looks interesting). But they are good machines, too. And as your comment said, lots of folks have excellent Janomes stitching away.

I did not choose my machine based mainly on embroidery features because that is only one piece of the pie. I choose it on which SM I liked best for all the various projects I do and what my experience told me that I needed most (they ALL look smashing on a brochure and on the sales floor, lol). Of course, this will be different if embroidery is all you wish to do.

For instance, if you wish to monogram ready-made tee shirts or put little hippos on ready-made bibs, then a less expensive embroidery-only machine with a 5x7 would be great. But if you wish to make the tee shirts and bibs yourself, then all the other SM features are equally, if not more, important (like how does it handle knits? Is there a binding attachment? etc.) Or if you wish to make a big old quilt from scratch and use the embroidery machine to do edge-to-edge quilting, that is a whole other magilla, and you will want as large a hoop as you can get without breaking the bank, and the SM will need a strong motor and strong feed for managing a heavy quilt, and accurate stitching and feed for 1/4" piecing and adding a binding at the end. If you wish to do part of the quilting free motion, then how well does the machine do that? Does it handle rulers easily?

No quick and easy answer to your question! And we have not even begun to look at whether a model has easy placement/correction methods, or if you can combine designs and manage fonts on the screen without needing software on your computer, or if it self threads, or if it gets you back to the right place after a thread break, or if it gives a clear and reliable warning when the bobbin is running low, or if it has a jumbo bobbin to avoid running out often, or if you can change the bobbin without moving the project? And dozens of other factors.

It is a complicated decision, so many people just say a brand name in order to simplify the reply, and it is often Brother if the recommendation needs to be budget sensitive because they offer more options in the entry level range (just as they usually do on regular SM as well). Go try some! Then we can answer specific questions about what features are important.