Janome 6600 is a great choice. Many positive reviews and widely considered a workhorse. Only doesn't have a free arm. If you don't need the free arm, it is probably you best bet, try to get it for $1000, and don't pay more than $1200. I got its freearm cousin the Babylock Quest Plus, which is working great for me. But my dealer had another cousin machine, the Pfaff Smarter, with a few more features, and didn't show it to me. The upgrade of the BLQP is to be called the Serenade. It's in a current ad in a Fons & Porter magazine, but not on the Babylock website yet. As fabulous as Berninas are, they have nothing with a wide harp (space to the right of the needle) for less than $8-10K. Just get something that works reliably for you so that you can get sewing. Sorry about your bad experiences with dealers. We've all had those, but it's really the best for buying machines over $200.