Originally Posted by MissJMac
OK, Barb - You've heard it now!. I bought thre New Joy and the Janome 1600P together (they were demo'd together at the shop so I figured it was a safe bet). I played with it at the shop and was sold - couple of weeks later I bought it. It was fine til I needed to thread the machine.
The construction of the New Joy shelf made threading the machine a major task that exhausted me to the point of "I'll thread it today, recupertate, and quilt tomorrow (only a slight exaggeration). I visited groups that had this setup and got tips and helps from all over the intenet. Some quilters had the New Joy/Janome 1600P combination and they admitted it could be difficult to thread, but encouraged me to "practice, practice, practice". I'm 70+ years old and I don't have that much time to practice. In frustration, I sold the New Joy, but kept the machine. I have 3 Janomes and love them all, including the 1600P (when it's sitting on my quilting table):>)
Apparently, others have had good experiences with the New Joy- but NOT with the Janome.
Something to think about when you're looking at New Joy. That darn shelf was the problem, it blocked the thread channel.
I also have three Janomes. The 1600p has a needle threader, but haven't been able to get that to work. I'm going to work on that next. I like the pattern shelf, haven't had any problem with it and like to have the panto there so I can stop and see how I'm doing as I quilt along a row. If I didn't want to do pantos I would take the shelf off. I haven't quilted enough to decide which I want to do, pantos or free motion.