Oh boy, I wish I had had this information back in April (or sooner). I bought a HV Designer I about 3 years ago, and could never get anyone to help me with all the problems mentioned above. A beautiful machine with a blue million floppy disks with every design you can imagine wanting to embroider. Never, never, never could get anyone to help me understand it--I have a computer whiz SIL who did all the things computer wise that he thought I needed; and a friend who uses every make of embroidery machine except HV, so she couldn't help me. So, I gave up, and still don't know how to use an embroidery machine.
I went to Paducah in April, saw the Elna 860 demonstrated, bought it at a deep discount because they didn't want to have to pack it up and bring it back to their store; came back home with a new machine and showed my HV to a friend of mine who asked me if I wanted to sell it--did I ever. She bought it, lock, stock and barrel (and I think she is going through all the same problems mentioned above) and says she loves it--but she has sent it off to have some kind of work done on it. Who knows. She should have read this post first, huh?
And I am still trying to fit sewing lessons and a trip to Chattanooga (the Elna dealer) to learn how to use my new machine into my busy schedule.