I bought the TinLizzie Apprentice with 12 foot Pheonix frame last December. I bought from an on-line store, on the other side of the country from me ...... so me and my husband had to set it up ourselves. The "instruction manuals" were horrid. Thankfully, my husband is a top-notch handy man and was able to figure everything out. Also, having bought from a vendor so far away from me, there was no training provided. There are pros and cons to this. I have really got to know the machine but have had several frustrating moments!!! I watched a multitude of YouTube videos.... thank goodness for the Internet or I would have been in a terrible way.
I played around with it initially on a "test" quilt sandwich (cut a sheet in half with batting in between) just to get familiar with it. After I got a few kinks worked out of the machine and the frame, I am loving how it is stitching. It has excellent lighting and I love the "tie off" feature. I am about to finish my first queen size quilt and am extremely happy with how it has performed. Also.... another cool feature, because the bed of the machine is a bit larger than typical longarms, I have been able to use my regular quilting rulers for straight line quilting!!! Love that!
Not only was it reasonably priced, the final selling point for me was that everything is under warranty (bumper-to-bumper) for one year.
All that being said, I highly recommend to purchase it from a vendor that is close to you so that they can:
1. Deliver and set it up.
2. Provide you some hands on training.
3. Provide you timely support.
Good luck!!!