I agree that Brother machines are lightweight and seem to hold up to travel. I bought one for less than $100 6 years ago. It was working fine through the summer. We took it on a journey and along the way something fell on it and it broke. But that was my fault for not packing it well.
I replaced it with another Brother, and also purchased a Janome Sew-Mini for toting to guild meetings and such. It works well, has 7 stitches, is mechanical - no computerization at all - is only 5 pounds and only cost $60. It sews well and if I drop it, or it grows legs and walks out of the room without me, I'm only out $60. The only real drawback to it is that it has no light and it's kind of noisy. But I do love it for what it is.