Wondering if any of you have gotten a chance to see this yet; and if so, how much it is going for. It will be on display at my Janome dealer the month of May; but not sure I can get there with hubby's upcoming surgery.
It is Janome's version of a longarm, and I think it is made by Tin Lizzy for Janome.

There was a picture and write up about it in my Quilter magazine I got this week. I think the suggest retail was just under $9000 or somewhere around there. I did look like a sweet machine, though.

It is a sweet machine...looks almost identical to my Tin Lizzie 18DSL I just got. I'm glad to see Janome finally came out with a longarm.

I just bought one and it's still in the boxes, it came with the Grace Majestic frame. I went to the show in Denver not quite two weeks ago and was really disappointed it wasn't there to test drive. I bought it over the phone from a sewing store in Texas and got a fantastic deal (way below the $9000). I did test out the Tin Lizzie's at the show and liked the way they felt. If your interested you might try calling or visiting Thomas Sewing Center in Mesquite, Tx. Their website is thomassewingonline.com. I dealt with Karen but all of the people there are really friendly and willing to help. Tin Lizzie does make these, and I found out they also make the Viking Mega Quilter 18. Another Handi Quilter dealer told me that HQ makes the Babylock Crown Jewel, interesting...

hi, was wondering if you have opened the box and started to use your Artistic 18?
i purchased one about a month ago and am looking to find others so we could trouble shoot issues.
Can't seem to get the answers i need from the dealer or Janome.

Hi am setting machine up this afternoon got the frame done last weekend. Whatkind of problems are u having? Judy

even with the stitch regulator it does not stitch evenly. the top of the quilt doesn't look to bad, but the back is awful!!!

If the back is awful, you are having tension problems. I recommend a Towa bobbin gauge to take out the guess work on the bobbin, then all you have to do is mess with your top thread tension. Good luck and enjoy the wide world or mid arm quilting.

Hi, Set up the machine last night. Am wondering if I can ask you a few questions and also if you were able to adjust the tension to get it to stitch better. The first question is about the encoders...the back encoder is not touching the track, the side one seem to be riding fine and turning also. We noticed that when we screwed these onto the carriage they would only go in so far, no matter how many times we tried, and they are kinda loose, not snug up to the carriage. This morning I went to Joann's to see how they set up their Mega quilter 18 and whoever set up their machine put a wire between the head of the screw and the two plastic spacers to tighten it up snug to the carraige. Is this okay to do and should they be really snug to the carriage? I'm thinking this may solve the back encoder problem of not touching. 2nd question is my stitching was awful and I used the Towa bobbin gauge to check the bobbin tension and even though I adjusted the bobbin case screw nothing changed, it wasn't tightening up anything. I went online later and found if the bobbin thread is 'eyelashing' the top tension is too loose so I am going to try that shortly. Really hope you were able to fix your stitching problems. I will post later after doing some more testing with the top tension.

sorry to hear your also having some problems..it gripes me to NO END to pay this amount of money and the dealer and Janome don't really want to help.
my encoders went on fine and seem to be working the right way. My machine is set up on the Pinnacle table, we had to buy an up grade to make it work. The Grace Co. are great helping me with anything to do on their end.
Hubby said he followed the direction sheet, didn't have to do anything different than that.
I just can't get the stitching to look uniform..the quilt loads great, no wrinkles etc.