I had a Janome 8200 so I looked at the 8900 and the Aria. I saw a gal had paid $2400 for her Aria in January of this year but couldn't find a price for the 8900. I was a little skeptical of the dial on the 8900 but I've not heard of any issues with it. I personally like the look of the panel read out on the Aria. They both are considered very good machines. I would sit down and demo both of them, see which one you feel more comfortable with, and compare the features. Especially check out the lighting, compare the throat space, does the Janome have the serpentine stitch (the Aria does, really cool stitch). The 8200 and 8900 both have the dual feed foot, which looks like a walking foot and attaches to the machine. This foot is suppose to be comparable to the Pfaff IDT foot. I own an old metal Pfaff with the IDT foot and speaking from experience, comparing it to the 8200, I don't feel it is comparable. It works ok, but not as good as the built-in IDT foot. Hope this helps.