Originally Posted by
bjchad
If you don't want to quilt for others perhaps you can either rent out time or offer the local quilt guild time on it for their charity quilts or even their own quilts. That would make you feel like you were getting your money's worth from it.
I agree with bjchad. Rental is a great way to go, if possible - see if there is a LQS with a rental machine near you. You will probably have to take lessons to learn the machine and, of course, pay the hourly rate, but then you quilt what you want and not have to worry about when it will be returned to you. You also don't have to worry about space or maintenance.
I enjoyed being able to rent, since I like to do mine start to finish. If you decide to buy, try the used one and see if you like it. Since it is an investment, even if you don't want a business, you need to enjoy using the machine and they all feel different.
I was fortunate to have both room and money to get my choice of longarm (Innova 26"), which I selected after learning on a Nolting, using a Gammill (neither of which had a stitch regulator), and then testing a Tin Lizzie and a HandiQuilter.
Good luck on your decision.