I have been lurking this great site for about a year or so and have found the information provided by all to be honest and straight forward. I have made due with mostly used bottom feed Singer machines both vintage domestic (shuttle and bobbin) and industrial as well as a Barracuda walking foot that I table mounted. This site which I thoroughly enjoy caused me to do a re-evaluation of my equipment needs present and near future. Over this period of time there was a lot of reading, watching of youtube videos, some hands on various machines and a lot of considerations. This included researching various models both new and used; walking foot vs compound feed; flat bed vs cylinder machines; cylinder machines with a flat bed table attachment; clones from China / Taiwan; recognized name brands; manufacturer A vs B and of course the dollar cost.
I finally decided that what would serve most of my needs (still would like to have a Singer 29k patcher) would be a new flat bed, compound feed machine to handle multiple layers and reverse with a servo motor for added control. When I looked at the new clones vs a comparable one from Juki there was only between $100 - $300 Canadian saving depending on the manufacturer. I decided to get a new Juki 1541s complete with servo motor as well as a couple of binding attachments and will be picking it up this Wednesday. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them.
Thanks in Advance