I would stay away from the new Singer's, too. Your best bet would be a used Janome or Pfaff, or maybe a Bernina. If you are near New Holland, you could check out Brubaker's. They completely recondition used machines and offer a 1 year warranty. They have some used Pfaff's on ebay right now. I Janome used 6500/6600 would be a great machine for you.