When I worked at a quilt store they bought a Nolting Fun quilter, and I learned on that machine.. After i retired I bought a midarm for $1000. on Craigslist and it had a wonderful stitch but after using the Nolting I was not happy.. Sold it on Craigslist for $900. and found and purchased an HQ16 also on Craigslist for $4,500. The lady that I bought it from has called to find out how it was working out. It has a stitch regulator but is makes too much noise and I find that I can work better without the regulator.