I love my babylock espire hand down, but test drive, your dream machine might not be someone elses, I have seen people love and hate the same machine. write down what you want in a machine, take it to a dealer and they will show you models that have those features, take fabrics with you to test out the stitches and feel of the machine, I always stick with my brothers and babylocks, very easy to use right out of the box, no learning curve needed. There are so many good brands bernina, janome, pfaff, juki, brother , babylock with so many different models with different features. They all have good and weak points, what matters is that you love the machine not someone else.