LindaM

I had this setup to start, and quickly came to despise the 9" harp and the bobbin - would be changing bobbins sometimes twice in one pass. Moved up to the Pfaff 18.8 and now am a happy camper. The bigger Pfaff also has the bigger bobbin and the bigger harp.

There are some good research resources for longarms - including http://www.longarmuniversity.com/ . There are often demos at shows. If there are some la's near you, chat them up and ask what they do and don't like about their machines. Being able to do some real hands-on work on candidates will really help your decision.

JustAbitCrazy

I agree with Prism99. I think it's too much money for a used one--should be about half the price of new, imho too. And I am sure you will quickly feel really limited with a 9" throat. I find that whatever the throat space is, I am usually comfortable quilting in half that space. That's not to say you can't quilt a wider path, I just find it a bit uncomfortable and kind of unnatural, because I am worrying I will end up with squared off feathers all in a line at the limit of my reach, etc. (Hope that makes sense.) And then towards the bottom of a large quilt, you'll have even less space to move, because of the thickness of the already quilted quilt on the take up bar inside the throat, and be even more restricted. Whatever you buy, get the largest throat space you can afford. And I think a stitch regulation system is important, if you can swing it, because it really shortens the learning curve. Good luck!