I just went thru the same thing! Drove myself and the stores, going back and forth between Viking, Bernia, Janome, etc. I finally decided on a Janome Memory Craft 6600. By the way, when did sewing machines cost as much as a used car????? My last machine was a Singer about 40 years ago! Anyway, back to the subject!
I noticed that all the quilt stores in my area all basically used Janomes in their classrooms and the instructors almost all had the Janome. I liked the Janome because it had the dual feed, all the main accessories that you need for quilting and sewing, and I could it seems noone had any negative responses! I bought one 3 months ago and have not regretted it!