The rule-of-thumb is to take a year to research and try out before making a decision. There are several longarm groups on groups.yahoo.com. It would be a good idea to join to get info from actual users of different setups. My own recommendation is to be sure to try out an Innova before making a decision. That's my personal favorite "dream" machine and I would probably purchase it even without a dealer nearby, as they have good telephone support and the machines are very self-maintainable. There are two Innova groups on Yahoo; some of the members there have owned other brands before switching to Innova so you can get that point of view too.