I went and test drove both the sit down HQ and an Avante 18 yesterday. I fully intended to get the sit down version, but after playing with each of them I've decided I need to take the class on the Avante and rent time on it to see if I feel I can get the hang of it. It's a lot cheaper than a $500 class and it's at a small shop where I believe I'll get a lot of help even after I take the class.
In addition I'm going to continue to practice FMQ on my sewing machine to see if I think I'll be able to get the hang of FMQ enough to use the sitdown HQ. At that point I'll make a decision on which one to get.