Originally Posted by
quiltingshorttimer
I agree with the others. I bought a used Gammill (2006 model) almost 5 yrs ago and you need to remember that you are putting down about 1200 stitches in a very short time with a long arm. I also agree with the others that you need to make sure you've done a thorough search--just like you would in buying a car or home!--and tried out a lot of different ones. You might want to consider one of the ones made for industrial usage like Gammill, Innova, APQS, Nolting, etc as they've been in the long arm business much longer than Juki or Bernina. You can often find one used for about the same price as new Juki/Bernina/Brother long arm and since made for industrial usage, they are still in great shape.
Sorry i am trying to reply to all three of you and hope you all get to see this. Thank you for your thoughts - my budget is ideally $10 000 maximum incl a table but ideallly would like to spend less. I completely agree with you all I need to make sure I can get the support I need for this machine. I would be buying it second hand from a person who is actually closing shop, but I know that there are Bernina dealers close to me. I love your stitch calculations Michelle! Thank you. SO helpful. I don't know much about Gammil and am open to any suggestions... I want to be able to lock the channels and sew straight as well as FMQ and in my research today i see the Juki frame for the QVP cannot do this.... I completely agree this is like buying a car. A lot of research and thinking needed.... thanks for your support in the process.