Originally Posted by granky
I have the Tin Lizzie and love it. It doesn't have bells and whistles, but it has an 18" throat, and that is great. It fills a bobbin as you stitch, so you always have a full bobbin ready to go. It doesn't have a stitch control, but with a bit of practice the stitches are fine. The price and the space was right for me too...as well as it being a sit-down.
Granky - i have the lizzie, too. does yours have the little dials on each handle? they're white and they live right under where you grip the handle? they have numbers? if you look at yours do you see what i mean? that's where you can change the stitches. even if you didn't choose the regulator, it comes with the feature that allows you to change the stitch size. that's the stitch control. it works in conjunction with the other one that controls speed - one dial for size, one for speed. if you mean the stitch regulator, which is a different one called lizzie stitch, then, yes, i absolutely agree with you. i have it and seldom use it. if you practice, you get to where you don't really need it unless you intend to go professional, at which point i would recommend a much more sophisticated (and expensive) quilter with a few automated features like auto advance.
BTW, whether or not you can sit at a quilter depends on how tall you are. i can't sit at any of them and reach the back. i'm too short. no matter how far forward i stretch, i cannot reach far enough forward to truly control what happens back there. i have to stand for that part, or only work sitting at the front edge. all of them are designed to be shortened to a determined height and no shorter. be sure that it's the right height for you.