This is my first serger. Honestly I was so nervous to try a serger after my mom told me her problems with her serger (NOT a brother machine). She would spend 5 or more hours trying to get the settings right, a lot of frustration, having to walk away and ends up not using her machine. After reading a lot of reviews etc I decided to try the 1034d. I was pleasantly surprised. It worked great right out of the box. It only took me 2 tries to get the threading right. I have made so many projects with my machine, switching back and forth between settings and never had any issues. Works like a dream! It makes my sewing projects go faster and takes them to the next level. I absolutely love it. Needless to say my mom now wants a brother and my intimidation is gone.