I went to Babylock dealer for Crescendo and he showed me the Janone 8900 but said he would bring in Crescendo for me to try out- Needless to say I ended up buying the Crescendo -For me the crescendo is well worth the money- it has 11.25 to the right of the needle, it has the laser light as you wanted, and I love the way it sews and quilts- I just finished a king size quilt on it and it was nice to have the larger area. The table comes with the Crescendo the lights are adjustable and makes quilting easier- there are many features I found on the Crescendo that the Janone did not have