I recently bought the HQ Sweet 16 with TruStitch and love it. Wish I had more time to play.
1. The HQSS16 does NOT take a lot of space.
2. There seems plenty of space between the needle and the back of the machine to maneuver the quilts.
3. I added two small storage units back to back on the right side (at the same height of the table) to give added room to maneuver and added storage. Then my DH attached a fold-down table from IKEA to the left side. You will want that extra space on either side.
4. There is a difference in height between the table and the machine body. However, it is not a big deal to raise the braces in the table by putting spacers in. (Cheaper than the overlay that you can buy.) If you leave the table, you will notice the bump when using either templates or the stitchregulator mouse.
5. The learning curve on this machine is practically non-existent. You just have to find your sweet spot (speed and motion) It is sort of like learning to drive a standard transmission.
6. She is easy to maintain.
7. Babylock just came out with the Tiara, which is essentially the identical machine.
8. I learned how to FMQ on my Babylock Espire but now that I have the HQ, I am not very tempted to work within the confinded space of the DSM (even one with a large harp).
9. I wish the HQ had feeddogs for doing SID BUT you can set your speed to really really slow and practically crawl along the ditch if you want/need to.
10. Can't comment on the price. I negotiated a good deal so I am happy. I also like my dealer support and the more modern look and feel of this machine compared to the Tin Lizzie and other more industrial ones (read "clunky").