All I know about is what I have! I have a Husqvarna Viking Emerald 116 that I purchased new, when it was 50% off which made it under $400, about 6 years ago (maybe). This machine replaced a fairly expensive basic Brother, that was only about 6/10 years old, the Brother had been heavily used unfortunately, it needed repair. The Emerald has been a wonderful machine, used frequently, and has not caused me any problems. I also have 2 used Singers, and a used Necchi that work well (2 were free, one was $25), of course they don't have speed control, self threaders, and needle up/down, but for the price they are great. If I were looking at a new machine, I would first look at the Husqvarna's simply because my machine has done so well. Options I would want in a new machine, speed control, needle up/down, and a larger throat/harp (?) anyway, the area from the right of the needle to the side of the machine. I can quilt baby and lap quilts, but I have lots of trouble attempting to quilt anything larger; so I'm learning QAYG. I would have purchased a Janome...however the dealer I called lied over the phone to get me into the store...that didn't really work out too well for them. The Emerald was purchased at a Joanns.