My opinion.....if you enjoy doing the quilting and enjoy working on a long arm, then you got your money's worth out of the machine. If money is not the issue, then you need to decide if it is something you enjoy doing. I recently went through this same quandry. And to be honest, getting value out of a purchase for me is more "do I enjoy doing this/seeing this/working with this" than "can I say it saves money in the long run"
Now with that being said, one of the main reasons I decided that it was worth the cost to me is that I can position myself to support myself if I get laid off from work again. I wanted to make sure that I had a means and/or method to support myself. If I never get laid off, then I have a very expensive toy that I enjoy very much. If I do get laid off, then I have a means to support myself.
But in the end, I bought a machine because I enjoy using it, I enjoy pushing myself to learn new things, I enjoy making pretty things. I want to go into making whole cloth quilts to show, I want to push my artistic skills in that direction. And I hate trying to wrestle a quilt on my DSM. So for me I will get my money's worth out, regardless if I get the financial money's worth out.
I also stress trying out all the machines. I bought a new 22" innova for less than you listed for the used machine above. Do your research, go to a show and test all machines. In the end, putting my hands on the Innova felt like going home.
