y Janome is at least 20 years old and still going strong. I wouldn't be afraid to invest in another one.

I have the 8900 and love it. Bought it for the large harp and it was on sale. That said I don't use all the stitches so the 8200 would have been fine too, but I didn't even know about that model when I bought the 8900. I love my Janome!

You need to ask your Janome dealer when the machine was first on the market. Janome only carries parts for 20 years and then you cannot get parts to have it repaired. I bought the 6500, 10000 and 11000 and I had a lot of problems with the 6500 and I can no longer get parts for it. My 11000 is being serviced and I am holding my breath that it isn't anything major because the parts for it are no longer available. I have been spoiled my 1955 Singer which still sews like a dream and I can still buy parts for it. There is a lot to be said for the mechanical machine.

Fabric, this the the norm across all lines of computerized machines and any other tech too. My 20 year old phones and dvd players aren't fixable either. The technology changes so fast it doesn't even make sense for the manufactures to support them. Part of life in the fast lane. Fortunately there are millions of pre-chip machines available too.

........and that's exactly what I did! I sold the 8900 and bought the Juki TL2010Q for quilting ( mechanical straight stitch only, high harp space) and a Juki DX7 (computerised "fancy pants") for piecing.

I have the 6500MC and the 1600P....wouldn't trade either of them in, however I don't need all the stitches that the 6500MC has....waste of money paying for what you will never use if you ask me.

I have the 6600, 8900, oh, and Skyline 7. Love them all! The 8900 is my go to for free motion....use the Skyline and 15000 for piecing. Use the 6600 for bags...real workhorse. Would not trade any of them.

I have had many MCs but this time I went for the SkylineS9, much lower cost

Thanks to everyone for your feedback. Tomorrow is the big day when I make my final decision. I really appreciate the feedback on the machines with more stitches because I was wondering if more stitches meant more machine. Never having owned or wanted an embroidery machine, I'm probably fine without too many extras. I like to do my own quilting, mostly SID and turning those quilts can be a real pain so the extra space would be nice to have. My plan is to use this machine for many, many years. Thanks for the tip, Fabric, on the shelf-life of parts. I will be sure to ask.

You might want to try FMQ on each of the models you're interested in before committing. See how the visibility is, see how easy it is to control or "smoosh" the excess in the harp (even take a completed quilt and pretend to quilt it to see how the harp space works for you.)