Very good advice. I wished some one had pointed me in the right direction when I started. If you want a newer machine I would look at some of the Janomes, especially the ones made for quilting. there is a great 3/4 machine, Janome Gem, that has an awesome quilting stitch. Besure the get a one with the little table, carry bag and all the feet for quilting. I know of atleast 4 ladies that bought a Janome Silver yrs ago, planning to buy a bigger machine later on and use this for take along, and never felt the need to update to a bigger or more expensive machine. The Silver is a 3/4 mechanical machine.

Looks like a great sewing machine!!! I recently bought a Janome 6600, but my second choice would have been Brother. Everyone says how easy these two brands are to use.

Congrats and ENJOY your new sewing machine ;)

jody

A good quality machine will last for years, the cheap machines won't. You really need to spend at least $300-400 to get a decent machine. There's nothing worse than a machine that doesn't work properly. The older machines that are all metal are really good and sew well. New Singers are only the name, not the quality that Singer used to be known for, very sad in my opinion. I own and use the wonderful Singers from the past. Viking makes good machines, the Emerald line is very good, #116 is good starter machine.
Getting off my soapbox now.

That is a fabulous price especially considering it has an automatic thread cutter and comes with the walking foot -- I paid $50.00 just for the walking foot for my Janome HT2008. It also has good reviews.