I keep wondering when they'll wise up and make a basic machine with plenty of space. The long arm companies are trying to tease us with sit-down long arms, but they're still out of many folks' budget. Either way, I guess the manufacturers are hoping we'll splurge to get what we want. I am pretty happy with my Janome 6600, but I am tempted by the new Janome 8200 which has 11 inches of throat space, but not as many bells and whistles as the other big machines. But the price is still somewhere between $2100 and 4000.