May I repeat myself here in that I do LOVE this means of communicating with other sewing and quilting ladies. And the first thing that I agree to is that, once you have a long arm (mine is a Gammill Classic on a 14 foot table that DH gave me for Christmas 2007); asking around won't get you any information from other owners of long arms--I guess they really are afraid that you'll be stealing some of their thunder. It is great seeing all the means that you can go to to learn how to use one. However, mine came with a very good instruction book and CD which my son and I use religiously (?) plus he has attended several sessions at Paducah at the Gammill booth; learns more every year. We have done about 150 quilts on mine--everyone we love wants us to do them a quilt (so we do).....
The one thing I find with mine (Gammill comes with a 4-year unlimited warranty) and I am nearing my 4-year limit and we need to have something done to the wheel system--my son says they need to replace it for us free because they changed the entire wheel system the year after mine came out (and we have had some kind of trouble with ours from day one; including replacing the wheel system). If they do, they do, if they don't we have to pay something like $1000 to have mine replaced.....
Anyway, I am still in love with my Gammill; but it is not my first long arm. I fell into long arm quilting by accident in 1990 by going to an auction and buying one from an interior decorator who was down sizing--she said "it is so easy; if you quilt you need this set-up--an OLD sewing machine head set up on a 14 foot table that would run one speed wide open (if you have regulated stitching on your machine you know of which I speak). So I learned how to sew REAL FAST; and I am not a fast sewer..... I was lucky enough to run an ad in a local sales sheet and sold it about six months later when the lady who bought it called me to see if I had sold my quilting machine yet.... For a long time I had it set up in our foyer (we live in an old-timey house) so I sure was glad when she called even though she stayed at me until I let her have it for $800 and counted myself lucky to get that.
My quilting machine is mostly for pleasure (my sisters, my son, and myself); we have all become quite good at it. Every time we make something we figure out one more thing that we want to try to find to make it better for us. I have seen pictures of the quilting done by ladies on this board that makes me want to try to find the pattern--we mostly do free hand meandering and stippling. We have done some very pretty work; but I don't know how to post pictures--so 'til I can get a kid over here to teach me how I'll just do without the pics.
Now, my advice to the lady who asked the question about buying a long arm machine, my advice is "go for it" and like some of the other ladies on here say "don't look back"..... If you love quilting, you will LOVE a long arm machine....