This was a christmas present from my husband going on five years ago. I have had an on going problem with the bobbin, out of the package of bobbins, only one I can use for this machine, thread balling up and being out of time. I have talked to the hot line starting not long after I got it, not much help. I have had the sewing machine worked on and it works fine for a while, but then goes back to the same old problem. I picked this particular model for my present for xmas as it was advertised as the hobby model, sews on leather. I sew on fly masks, jeans, horse blankets, thin leather, suede, almost always on thick material. I am very disappointed with the over all performance of the machine and the on going problems I have had. I change needles often and use only the singer needles and the ones marked for this machine and for the type of material I am sewing on. Even tho I have had this machine for all this time, there are very few actual sewing hours on it due to the constant problems! I have been looking at the futura 350 to buy but to be trueful, would expect much better performance than what I have gotten with this machine. I would hope this model is not known for the problems that I have had with it. Out of the different people who have worked on it, I did have one tell me that this was a model that had problems. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I don't really want to keep putting money in this machine as I am beginning to think I have a lemon. Just to add to this, took the machine to the 4H gathering and somehow came home without the little manual that came with it. Thank you for your time. Penny Dees