My idea of successful sewing involves going really fast in a straight line without putting a needle through my thumb, so if you're accomplished, look elsewhere for a meaningful review. I looked for a few things in a machine: Self-threading (crucial), that easy kind of bobbin, a light, and fairly small and lightweight. Oh, and inexpensive. I discovered that the bobbin is only available in expensive machines, so I let that one go and bought this machine. It seems to be working out quite well. I manage to zoom in a straight line and do a couple of backward stitches to lock it without making huge knots, and it's lightweight. The self-threader took a bit of figuring out - the quick-start documentation is all pictures, and it had nothing to do with the way my mind works, but the manual, when I finally re-located it, got me there (the manual is online at Brother if you lose yours). It's not as easy as you hope it will be; it's not as if it can thread itself. You wind the thread here and there - the going up and down thingie is particularly odd, because you don't put it through a hole and it doesn't seem like there's any way to make it catch on anything, but if you persevere, it does. Anyway, you hook the thread onto something and hold it in front of a needle. If you've lined everything up properly (not difficult), when you push a lever, something will pop through the needle eye, grab the thread an pull it through. Clear as mud? Well, that's how I felt reading the instructions. But the real point here is that the thread goes through the hole, so the hardest part is done for you, but it's *barely* through the hole in a teeny loop behind the needle. You need to use a pin or something to capture the little bugger. Once you've done that, You're good to go. The other good news is that you don't have to do that business with catching the bobbin thrread. You just drop it in from the top and sew. Can't imagine what you must do with the easy version. The bad news is that the bobbin kept making some kind of loop at the beginning of the thread going onto it. As you can tell from reading this, it could have been user error, but I just put the thread where the picture said and ran it up through one of the holes, so I don't know where I went wrong. In any case, having the loop sticking out resulted in a couple cases of several broken threads coming from the bobbin area and knots. Since it was fewer knots than usual, I'm not complaining. I'm thinking I'll take one full wrap on the bobbin and *then* put the thread through the hole next time. They need a self threader for that, too! No cover. That's sad in my house. I have to keep the machine in the well of a desk that the dog loves to use as a den, so it's a hairy machine. I'm thinking I'll either have to put it in a bag or give it a name and start feeding it.