On Craigslist there is an Eclipse Baby Lock Serger BLE1 DX for sale for $400. It has the owners manual, instructional video tape, 21 spools of thread. The seller said that I could borrow it for a day and try it out, since I'm in the same town. Well, I've never used a serger. The main purpose for wanting a serger is that I can make the fleece blankets for Project Linus a whole lot faster. The advice I need: is this a good price? Could I teach myself how to use it, or is it too complicated? I can sew, and have a Janome DC3050 that I'm able to understand and use. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Maureen

You may want to spend about 250 for a very good brand new one instead of purchasing a used one. You could be buying someone elses problems-who knows? I got the one off Nancys Notions for 249, came with notions package. I love it, it does everything I need it to do. Brand new, has a warranty too. This is just my opinion.
I will admit, I am a BabyLock fan! I have an Ellagante I would never part with. Only because I cannot afford to upgrade. If you are after the Babylock name, a GF says this serger is a good machine. $400 seems very reasonable. Would the warranty be transferrable on this?

I'm not sure if the warranty would transfer-that is an excellent question. I don't even know how old the machine is. Maybe I can find out by searching on the serial number. Thanks for the advice! Maureen

Here is one that sold on eBay for about that price:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Baby-Lock-eclips...item2a0e82863c

The hardest thing about a serger (in my opinion, anyway) is threading. Air-threading is a really nice feature to have, and I don't know if this model has it.

I will point out that this is a 4-thread serger. A 5-thread serger is nice for hemming t-shirt type material and decorative stitching (which would apply to flannel blankets).

If you can't figure out the serger by yourself, there may be a serger class available in your area where they will help you learn how to use your serger. I have seen them advertised in shops that sell fabric. It would be really helpful to have somebody to call if you get stuck while learning. Until you are familiar with how a serger works, it can seem a little mysterious. However, these days there are so many Youtube tutorials (not to mention people you can ask here on this board) you can probably work it out for yourself just fine.

Thank you so much for all of the info Prism99, it is very helpful.