I'm very reassured to hear that I'm not the only one. I've seen posts on other forums that suggest that some Janome machines have this problem. I presume the bobbin that your friend got was the one they've produced specially for FMQ. I think I'll have to give it a try. But it annoys me that Janome have never been honest enough to say "yes, that machine has a known issue with this, and this is how you solve it". I could live with that - no machine can be ideal - but the implication from them and the dealer that it must be all my fault has been very unhelpful, wasted a lot of time and destroyed my confidence and enjoyment.