We've only had our long arm since October and it takes about 6 to 8 hours to do a quilt. Dh took the class on how to run it with me and he's probably better at setting up the computer aspects than I am. I'm better at squaring up and picking designs.
I find it's way faster to do a quilt on the long arm then on my regular machine and way easier since I'm not moving all that bulk on my sewing table. I'm looking forward to learning how to drive my long arm myself and create my own designs.