Engineering aside, your wife absolutely MUST test drive longarms and see which one SHE feels most comfortable with. Are you doing the quilting or is she? The UQSM show was just in SLC this past weekend and would have been a prime opportunity to not only test the Q24 but all the other major manufacturers side by side. Most longarmers spend a year researching and test driving machines before purchasing.
I am a very happy Innova owner and there are many of us out there. Quite a few are regular major show winners and there are several "famous" long armers who have switched from other brands to Innova (like Gina Perkes). I have test drove the Q24 and it is indeed a gorgeous machine. Moves like butter and makes a beautiful stitch. Swiss made Bernina sewing machines have been around for a long time and my domestic is a Bernina (and old enough that it was still manufactured in Switzerland, now they have farmed all but the longarm and high end series out). But Bernina is a relative "newb" to longarms.
When it comes to longarms you absolutely can not make a decision without test driving as many as possible. Also you must consider how easy the machine you choose is to be maintained and how easy it can be upgraded to robotics if that is what you decide. And the rack is important too. I did love how the Q24 carriage operated on their rack but the rack itself did not seem easily modified or customized.
Every single accessory is extra with Bernina. Rear handles for pantos, special feet if you want to do ruler work, extra for an open toe foot, etc
All major brands have on board stitch regulators and there are distinct advantages to them not being part of the internal guts of the machine, like it is with Bernina. If my stitch regulator suddenly went out on me, I could still quilt in manual mode. It would be easy to upgrade.
There are also advantages to old fashioned "mechanical" movements that allow you to do things like adjust your tension without the computer, retime your machine if it is necessary (without a dealer housecall or having to lug a 70lb machine head off the frame and into the shop), adjust needle bar height, etc. I don't believe the owner can do any of these things with the Q24. You must have it serviced by an authorized Bernina rep. As they are the only ones trained to get at the internal workings of the machine.