I had the Janome 6500 for about 3 years and then upgraded to the 6600 for the scissor button, knee lift and the larger 9" harp space as I do all my own FMQing. I love each of those features, am spoiled now and wouldn't want to go back. It is a real work horse, but the 6500 was a very good machine also and if the above mentioned features aren't that important then I would go with the 6500.