Sure. To be honest, I never tried press foot machine and so can't comare them from experience. I can say that for someone who had never before oerated a sewing machine, this one was pretty forgiving. It only does straight stiches but you can vary the number of stitches per inch. The walking foot and 'dogs' under the material being sewn, really help move the material along. I've tested it on multile layers of leather up to around 1/4" thick and it punches through. The machine had a clutch style motor on it, which was very hard to go slowly with, so I did convert the machine to a servo motor which offers much better control for a beginner.