I am fortunate to own a Singer XL6000 for embroidery, a Juki TL98Q, which is not fancy, just sews straight stitches but it is a work horse & 1/2 (handles 10 layers of denim). I bought it for quilting because the throat area is bigger than a normal machine. I also own a Bernina Series 8 - 820 machine, which my husband bought me for my birthday. It is my "dream machine". The throat area is even bigger than the Juki & it does a gazillion things that my Juki does not do. It has a stitch regulator & lots of extra features but the price is probably out of reach for a lot of people. I live in Canada & it retails for just over $8,000.00 here. I LOVE it but it made me very anxious (at first) because the bobbin works very differently from other machines & if you try & cheat with it, you will pay the price. It holds 1 1/2 times more thread than other machines but you must be careful with it. It is a wonderful machine though. For the money the Juki is a top notch machine but no frills, at least not the 98Q model that I own but what it does do, it does very well. Depending on what you want your machine to do, there are some very good machines out there & you won't have to pay an arm & a leg for them. You just have to have some idea as to what you want your machine to do. My friend just bought a Janome & she is very happy with it also. I hope this helps you a little. Good luck in your search.