Patrice, you pretty much confirmed my hunch that I wouldn't be unhappy with a Skyline (first world problem, anyone?) but happier with 8200.
I bought a bona fide universal Janome table a couple weeks from off Craigslist, for a very good price, in hopes of sinking the 8200 or 8900 eventually. For now, I fenagle with my small Janome in it.
I considered the 6600 but it doesn't have a free arm. That's important to me. I COULD do my hemming on another machine I have, but I think an all-in-one machine is very attractive. I keep trying to figure out if it's a deal breaker.
I test drove teh 8200 and loved it. Test drove the 8900 and found it to be less intuitive and more machine than I need. (Well, to be quite honest, the word "need" is something I hate to use because I don't earn a living with my sewing. The word "want" when it comes to hobbies is much more realistic.) That said, I found a one-year-old 8900 on CL for half the cost of a new 8900. Wonder if I should seriously entertain looking at it? It's a 2-hour drive. Hmmm....
Decisions, decisions.