I have a Bernina 430 (just like the 450 w/o the embroidery or BSR) and I also had a Janome 7700. I did not like the 7700 and sold it and got the 6600 instead. The stitch quality on the Janome vs the Bernina was comparable. The Bernina felt better made than the 7700, but the 6600 feels better than the 7700 did. I also had a 450 with BSR which I did not like so I sold that one as well. The BSR was pretty useless to be as it required me to go too slow and with the small throat space on the Bernina, it was not practicle for FMQ fo me anyway. If I had to choose between the Bernina and 7700, I would choose the Bernina.