Peckish

I can't compare the two because I've never owned a Juki. But I do have the Brother 1500 . The speed is controlled by the foot pedal, just like driving a car.

I own 7 machines and if this one (for some bizarre reason) died, I'd buy another one in a heartbeat, rather than pull one of my other machines out of the closet.

I don't understand your question about how hard it is with a manual tension machine. How hard what is - piecing? Quilting?

I've never had a problem with tension on the Brother.