I have a Juki 2010 that I use 7 days a week for 2 years now and I love her! I do a lot of walking foot quilting, I'm still learning FMQ and she does both beautifully. No decorative stitches though, just one stitch done very well. If you don't care about having a speed control look at the Juki 2000 which is identical to the 2010 except no speed control and no pretensioner for thread guiding. I've seen new Juki 2000 machines locally for $500 but they are getting more rare.
The Brother 1500 is a great straight stitcher as well.
Janomes are very good machines and they have a lot of machines out on the market, there is a Janome for everyone, it's what stitches do you want and how much do you want to spend. I love my HD3000, it makes great quilts but I have much better harp space with my Juki.