Pennyhal

Each machine brand seems to do at least one thing better than another brand. I can't find a machine that does all I want best. As a result, I now have 8 machines. A gal at a shop owns 30!! So I don't feel so guilty about having a plethora of machines.

IJustWant2Sew

I had a kenmore years ago and it had that same problem. I spent more in repairs than it cost.

When I got back into sewing I got the Juki Exceed HZL F600. It is a very good machine. I made a blue jean quil.t with it and it did not hesitate to go over doubled up blue jean seams. I also made clothes with it and a few quilt tops. It has a fare amount of features and a beautiful stitch. It free motions nice.

Hubby felt the urge to buy me another machine and I chose the Pfaff Expressions 4.2. I have done about 15 quilt tops on it and have not had one ounce of problems. It was hard to get use to no manual foot lift. But now it is second nature! It has the bigger throat. It is a little out of the price you quoted but well worth it.

I decided to keep the Juki as a back up machine. Youtube has some good videos on both machines.

JT

I too own a Janome 3160. It is great, bought after my Janome 7700. I have upgraded several Janome's over the last 10 years. I have not been disappointed with any of them...but if I had to pick only one machine that I could take to classes and use at home, it would be the 3160. I am in a small sewing group with 4 of my friends. After I got my machine, and friends tried mine, 3 of them bought the same machine, the 3160. My other friend owns a Featherweight. Great machine, about $600.00. (Needle threader, needle up and down, auto thread cutter, numerous stitches, super light weight.)