aborning

I bought a new APQS Freedom in November and have done approximately a dozen quilts on it already and love it. I quilt for customers and had a Tin Lizzie 18 before this and had to replace parts 3 times on it in the 10 months I had it so I switched to a heavier duty long arm since I do quilting for customers. If I was only doing quilting for myself, I would not spend the money I spent on the APQS. If I was only quilting for myself, the Tin Lizzie would have been fine--as it probably would've taken me 10 years to have those three problems with the parts as I quilted many quilts on it in the 10 months I had it. Other people on this Board have Tin Lizzie's and have had no troubles with them. I think with every brand, there can be a lemon--just like when you buy a brand new car--you can get a lemon. Good luck with your decision. Make sure you try every kind that you can as you may base your decision on "the feel" of the machine. FYI--when I was going to buy a different long arm in November, the Handi Quilter Fusion was my second choice--but I went with the APQS because of the "feel" of the machine for me when I quilted with it. The different brands of long arms have different styles of handles --even the APQS had long arms with different style of handles and I bought the one that I liked the feel of the handles for me.