Well I always thought I wanted one but the price was out of my range. I was having shoulder problems so pushing the large quilts around under the throat of my domestic machine so I searched someone that rents longarms I did find one she required you take the class and I am so glad I did that I learned so much I did around 6 or 8 on the rented machine it was kinda expensive it was more than 1 hour away so that took gas and my time. So just looking on craigs list and ebay I did find this one. It was pretty local to go and look they set it up on a frame , I tried it and I said what is your bottom dollar?? I did offer them $100.00 less than they were asking and they said okay. So I guess the price and location played a big part in buying this machine. I than had to have shoulder surgery after about a month they called and came out with the machine and set it up for me. I could not do very much with it but I did try. After therapy I got into using it. Now in Jan it will be 2 years since I bought it and I just love it. It does not bother my shoulders like the domestic machine did hope this helps anyone thinking about investing in one. I do not do quilts for the public I do a lot of quilts for the linus group and the doner group.