I do enjoy having the dead bar. I didn't even realize how important it was until I watched a friend adjusting her take-up bar to roll the quilt and thought "I don't have to do that." I would love to have lightning stitch - it wasn't available when I purchased my Innova - but the standard stitch regulator is also very good, and I haven't had any complaints with it. Harp space does matter on some machines. It would be really helpful to figure out how wide a kingsize quilt with huge batting is when rolled up on a standard bar - wish someone would do that for us, because the question does come up pretty often. I have a 26" machine and have never regretted it.