I would much rather spend my money on a mechanical than a computerized sewing machine because I can troubleshoot and fix my machines on my own using common sense and a little time. A friend of mine handed me off an older Singer that was one of their first machines that was electronic, I figured what the heck, I'll put some time into it and see if I could get it working. When I discovered the mother board was going to need replaced and I looked for one online, I realized quick that I wasn't going to spend that kind of money on a machine that may or may not work if I put the mother board in. So far, I've been lucky with finding mechanicals that just needed some TLC and a very deep, thorough cleaning. Having a fantastic machine service guy helps a great deal and he's tried getting me into a computerized machine but I keep turning him down.

Interesting. I was just thinking about what I would replace my Brother with. I'm very impressed with what others have to say about the Brother PQ1500 SL. It has needle down and lots of extra space for quilting. (Well, more than my Brother). Some owners say they have had theirs for years and still love them. Will do more research and think it over.

Being able to service a machine yourself really does count in times like these.

Ravenblack, If you do yield to temptation and make an online purchase, just learn from my mistake and find out where the nearest warranty service will be for the brand that you choose. I found out too late that not all shops that sell Singers, for example, have someone on site who can do the work. For machines that they sell, they take the responsibility of shipping them to be serviced, but if you buy it online, your local shop may have no responsibility or interest in helping you if something goes wrong. Qualified and authorized people who can repair the computerized marvels are often not easy to get to. In the huge state of Texas, for example, I learned that there were only two authorized Singer repair shops in 2013, and I was lucky enough to live "only" an hour or so away from one of them at the time. Sites like Amazon should be required to provide that information with the description of their products, IMO. The shop person was great and very pleasant to deal with. It took forever to get the part from China, and that may be worse than ever now. The good new is that once it was fixed (which cost me nothing under the warranty) it was great and I still use it quite a bit.

Thanks for the advice. Will look into that. We do have a local Baby Lock dealer who sells lots of brands but have no machines left to sell until September. Our section of AZ is wiped out of machines, fabric, sewing notions, etc. Don't know why. That's why I was considering online.

Yes, I love my Brother 1500!! I've had it for about 10 years, it's a workhorse. I would buy another one in a heartbeat. In addition to needle down, it also has an auto threader and a thread cutter. There's a FB group, the files have helpful things like both owner's manual and service manual.

Peckish, you made me laugh! I, too, am apparently disposable these virus-filled days, as a old lady. Anyway, I also use the Ikea bendable lights at my machines. I have 2 cheapie Brothers that I keep set up with different colored threads and just go back and forth. They have been sewing almost daily for years now, and quilt okay, too.