I'm a Brother and Singer fan myself :)

I just got a new Brother for $169 on sale at Walmart. It has 80 programmed stitches and monograming letters. It's great!!

Do you have a local sewing machine shop where you go? If so why not check out their refurbished trade in's? My local shop sells them cheap, with a warranty and classes to learn to use your machine.

I would recommend the Janome Gem. I know you can not buy it new for that price but you could find a used one. Any of them the gold, gem or silver etc. I think $120-150 would do for a used one.

I got my Brother CS6000i from WM for 149.00 and had it shipped to my house for 97 cents. I love it. It came with a walking foot and darning foot for FMQ. I have always been a hand quilter and just recently started machine quilting. This sewing machine is great.

The place to go is Sears, they sell Janome and the Kenmore brand is made by White who makes the Janome. The Kenmore brand is very nice.

Someday I would like a Janome Gem. My friend has one and LOVES it! I have looked for used ones, but cant find any....I think people must love them and keep them!
You could call the shops and see if they have any nice trade ins, I think you still get the lessons!

the $139 brother's from walmart are wonderful beginner machines. they have some extra decorative stitches, speed control, and hold up well. I have a very expensive viking but when the kids come to visit and sew they fight over who gets to use the brother machines :)

I recently won a Janome Gem silver addition, and really, I would stay away from it. Nice enough, but smaller and only preset stitch length, needle can't be adjusted left or right. My DH got me a Brother CS4000 refurbished with full warranty for around $100 on Overstocked.com. It is my back up machine and I love it! Needle can be moved left, right, has a number of feet, about 20 or so fancy stitches and digital stitch length and width adjustment. Check Overstocked out for some great deals.

I also bought the Brother 6000i to teach my 11 year old grand daughter and I love the machine. I made several things on it so that I could teach her to use it and she made her first quilt on it. It is a great machine. It's going to live at my house and will be my back-up machine. I ordered it on-line from Walmart and had it delivered to my house because they didn't carry it in the store. I recommend this machine to a beginner or experienced sewer.