My quilting friend has the HQ Avante. She has had it for about 2 years now and has had no troubles with it. She quilts for herself and has done several for others also --so she has used it quite abit already. I own a APQS and for the same price, you might want to look at the APQS Lenni. I have had my APQS Freedom for about 2 years now and have had no problems with it. My 2nd choice was teh HQ Fusion but decided to go with the APQS because it just "felt" better to me when I used it.