I rent time on a long arm. I had to take a class to learn how to use it--I forgot almost everything by the time I had a quilt ready to quilt. The class cost was $100.00 plus a set of zippers to use to load the quilt. The charge is $20.00 an hour and I use pentagrams. I'm not nearly good enough to even meander yet. It usually takes 3-4 hours, and I love it. The owner is right there to help the whole time, I have to sign a contract each time, and they supply one needle. If I break the needle, I have to buy more. Don't know how much that costs. The cost is about the same as having someone else do the quilting, and now I can say I did it myself. If I owned a machine, I wouldn't rent it--the repairs are hard to get and your machine is out of commission while you wait for repairs.
Sue