There is no simple answer to this! I have owned a number of Featherweights and they sewed different speeds - sometimes significantly different. But even so none of them sew really fast, depending on what you're comparing it to. The fastest Featherweight I have sews about the same speed as a 15-91 but it sews much slower than a 301. I know that doesn't give you a definitive answer, but all I can tell you is that some Featherweights do sew pretty slowly although you can tweak it a little bit by adjusting the belt so it is just tight enough to run without slipping. Too tight, and it will slow the machine down. Most of the ones I've had just weren't fast no matter what I did.