I have the Janome 6500 and love it. We also have the Janome Jem Silver and several other Janomes. If you want a plain machine maybe look at the Juki straight stich or a vintage singer 15-91 or singer 201. The Singer 301 is nice too as it is light enough to take along. all those machines do is straight stich. Some of the other ones with cams can do fancy stitches.
Oh I would take the Juki over the Janome 1600.