This is my first foray into the world of sewing. The options for buying machines are staggering; going into the purchase decision uninformed will drive you mad. Over and over I kept finding high praise for this machine in Google searches for "beginning sewing machine."
I wasn't sure if I was going to even like sewing, much less be good at it; this machine alleviated both those worries right out of the box.
There are tutorials all over YouTube for how to effectively use this machine. If this is your first sewing machine, however, I would recommend looking into some basic sewing concept tutorials first (of which there are plenty).
Being a guy, my hands are a little bulkier than most females, and I think that makes things a little more clumsy for me. One thing I would suggest to anyone a little "heavy handed" is to be gentle if your sewing project gets jammed up in the feed dogs while you're getting used to tensioning the thread; the needle and presser foot mechanisms seem to bend a little easier than I would have expected.
If you're using invisible thread ... DO NOT try to use the automatic needle threader! Also, pay close attention to the tension -- this type of thread isn't a team player at all and LOVES to get snarled, jammed, work your last nerve and make you question whether or not you have actually gone blind (it's next to impossible to see the thread, much less do anything with it!).
Things that could be improved: The wide table is somewhat useless and gets in the way because of its legs folding up unexpectedly. The LCD readout is IMPOSSIBLE to read without a light directly shining on it (and there is no backlight). It would be useful if the machine could detect what size needle is currently loaded, because I find it impossible to read what's engraved on the needle.
Hope this helps anyone considering. Sewing is something I've wanted to learn for as long as I can remember (I'm 51 now). This machine welcomed me into the world of sewing with how easy it is to set up, how easy it is to use and the number of accessories provided. Video tutorials are helping me a lot too.