If you had to do it over again - would you?
Absolutely, I've been able to do soooo much more with this machine than I could with my Walmart special Brother machine.
Has it been reliable?
Very. I only had to have it fixed once, and it was a user error that caused it (I used the wrong foot).
Has it been picky about threads?
Not at all, and I've used just about everything on it, including some old thread from the 80s/90s that I had kicking around.
Have you had it in for repairs and/or adjustments more than a couple of times?
No, just the annual cleaning and one, oops wrong foot moment that threw off the needle alignment.
Would you still keep back-up machines?
I still have my old Brother machine, but it's only here to give to my daughter when she's ready to start sewing on her own. I haven't used it as a backup since I got the Janome Horizon 7700 several years ago.