I have had the 6500 for about 5 years now and I love it! I do a lot of piecing, and machine quilt my baby and lap size quilts with no problems. I rarely make quilts much larger but, when I do, I usually send them out to a local longarmer to be quilted. I have not missed the free arm aspect but since I mainly quilt, I don't really need that feature. Good Luck!