Have you tried Sears. A few yrs ago when I got back into sewing and wanted to upgrade from my 25yr old Singer I got a great deal on a Kenmore and later found it was made by Janome. Its a great machine and even though I now own a Viking Diamond Delux I still keep the Kenmore out and sew with it. My Singer is still a great machine after all these yrs and I handed it down to my daughter who is slowly getting into sewing. It has plenty of fancy stitches and I've never had a problem in all these yrs and it was used alot and even sat for many yrs and when I started sewing again it did great. I've heard many people say that the newer Singers aren't as good. I do know that machines rather a sewing machine or pc or whatever is made differently according to where it's being sold, like Walmarts, Costco or a LQS. Good luck and give Sears a try. Sears is also a great place to order RA rayon thread from; they sell it online for 3.95 a spool, cheaper than in almost any store.

This is so very true; MY Kenmore from Sears is still going. All things will have a lemon pop up at some time.

I just got an Apple I phone 4S a few months ago and I don't like it at all and can't see what all the fuss is about. I had less hassels with my Blackberry. I can't wait until the Samsung 3 goes on sale to get rid of my iphone. I'm not sure if its the phone or the fact that it has quirks that I don't like and don't want to deal with since I've not had to in the past.

this is why I reasearch things and when I read reviews I try to pull them from different sources and then also try to see if they have 4 stars or 1; how many people participated in the reviews. Good luck with getting a new one.

When I bought my sewing machine, I went to the local dealers. I saw lots of machines that were way beyond my means. At the Bernina/Janome dealer, however, they had low end machines that were on sale and put them into my price range. I think my machine (a New House/Janome) is much better than any of the machines I looked at in Sears and Walmart, although to be fair, I didn't ever sew on any of those machines. At the dealership, they had a sample machine out to use, showed me many things, and are available as a resource if I ever need it.

Might be worth checking out...

my old one is a Kenmore it worked good. Oh I for got to look at good will I have seen some on line just do not know what kind is good . I do like the older ones . I did go to Sears on one would help so in my mind they do not think I have money to get one they do not get the money I'm going to put on one right. All the walmart here some look good but not any to sell that what you get in a small town lol.

I love my old Singer 500. It is heavy duty with metal parts, mechanical not computerized. It does straight stitch and zig zag. There are other stitch cams to go with it, but there are plenty of stitches without the additional cams. After trying out new machines in quilt classes, I am still happy to be back with the 500. I have been told that the 500 is the last great machine that Singer made.

brother pc-420 off amazon is 400 I think the 210 is cheaper but has less features, they are very popular

We got a model 15 vintage Singer in a cabinet for $75. I love sewing on it. A Singer model 301 is another good machine. It only weighs 16 lbs and has forward and reverse as does the model 15. They are simple to work on and maintain yourself. Ask for help on the vintage portion of the board.

this summer I went to my local thrift store and found an old Singer. Forward n reverse only. And National with zig zag it hums!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The guy that fixes my machines charged me $40 to check them over and said IF I ever wanted to sell them he wanted first chance. I have $90 into them. The vintage sewing machines have ALL the newer machines beat by a mile as far as I'm concerned.