I have 2 elna and love them both.

Do a search using the search feature above for the machines you're interested in. There have been a ton of threads on the 6600.

I have a elna quilters dream. Bought about 10 years ago and love it. I also have a new bernina I bought for the stitch regulator. I really like the elna better except for free motion quilting. I have heard the new elnas are not made by the same conpany. I don't know if that is correct tho.

sewcrafty - thanks for the info re the ball bearings - very interesting! I DO know that our local service agent (who does many brands) says that Janome is the best.

I also have an elna Quilters Dream bought about eleven years ago and it is wonderful. Don't know about the new ones.

I love Elna....

I bought an Elna in the late 70's early 80's. It was a great machine & I had no problem with it. I now have a Janome 6600. It is a great machine & I don't feel it is flimsy in any way. If you plan on doing fmq, get the machine with the most area between the machine & needle. Just 1 extra inch will make a lot of difference.

Thanks everyone for your help, replies and advice.

I have decided to buy the Janome for the ease of use, supported servicing and it is going to do what I need it to do. My husband also has a lot of experience with sewing machines and he believes that it is the best too.

The table is the inset table that comes with it. Thankfully, I had a lovely 45 min play with it today and we had so much fun.

Now, all I have to do is pay it off. I have it on lay-by and hopefully will be able to pay it off sooner rather than later as I want to have a play with it.

From what I could find online, the Elna 7300 and the Janome 6600 are -if not twins, then close cousins. I think you may want to test drive both and see what you think. It is possible - but not confirmed that the Janome motor is more industrial. There was a blog that had both machines side by side - of course I cannot find it now.

I have the Elna 7200--the model just before the 7300 and it was made by Janome. There is very little difference between the Janome mc6500 & Elna 7200. I believe the same is true for the mc6600 & Elna 7300.