I choose Janome over Bernina. It seemed more quilter friendly at the time I looked at replacing a Pfaff. The dealer I purchased from had both Berninas and Janomes and I had walked into the store to buy a Bernina.

Having quilted on bernina, brother, babylock and pfaff I much prefer my brother dreamweaver to any. Haven't used a janome yet so can't comment on it. There is a stitch regulator for the brother/ babylock models but I never use it and i dont recommend it. Everything is a breeze on brothers/babylocks so I highly recommend both over bernina any day, only bernina I like after having used a 5 and 7 series was the Q20 for quilting, that thing was beautiful and the stitch regulator on it is the best of sit downs but the price tag on them is hefty

Even compared to the one on Innova's sit down (or it's optional Lightning Stitch regulator)? I test-drove an Innova sit down and instantly bonded with it.

I am a Janome owner of four machines and one Elna . Would not trade any of them for another machine. And the feet are interchangeable on all of them But you need to spend time with diff models to see what suits you best and also take into consideration the support you will get from your dealer.

Bernina presser feet are, "old style" and "new style." New style is for anything about 30 years old and newer. Old style is for anything older.

There are also 9mm presser feet, which are wider. And Dual feed feet that are open in the back for the dual feed to engage. But, any of these 9mm or dual feed feed will fit on any "new style" Bernina.

If you got a 7 Series machine when they first came out, they hadn't had the bugs worked out of them, yet. However, if you get your dealer to put all of the firmware updates on it, they do alright. The newer "Plus" machines are pretty awesome!

I'm hoping to get the Bernina 590.... someday.

Was there much difference between quilting on the brother and the babylock?

Thanks to everyone for your insights. So many things to think about!! I am taking my Bernina back to the shop since I've already paid several weeks ago to have it repaired. Hopefully it is something simple. I am planning to look at the new Babylock Meridian while I'm there. I think it's similar to the TOL Solaris but embroidery-only. I'll also look at the Brother machines and the Q20. I wish there was a Janome dealer near me. Everyone that has one of the machines seems to be really, really happy with them.

Since I already have all the machines I need for general sewing, one other thing I thought about was a mid-arm like the HQ Sweet Sixteen or Innova. The Sweet Sixteen is around $6000. If I just bought an embroidery-only and the Sweet Sixteen, that's about the same price I would pay for a TOL machine. Decisions...decisions...

I would not buy the new M7. It only gives you 1.5 to 2.0 inches more in harp space (their big push on new feature), than a Janome 8900, it is much less. This is a great machine for free motion. For 9MM stitches, free motion and embroidery I have a Janome 15000 and highly recommend it as well. I have had Janomes for 30 years, never had to take them to the shop for repairs. I have 11 Janome machines, some duplicates...RV,Cabin,home. I would not trade them for anything...

I just looked at the Janome website but couldn't find the 8900. I wonder if it has been discontinued. I read reviews on the 1500 last night and they would glowing reviews. I sure wish their was a Janome dealer closer to me.

If you don't have a Janome dealer, do you have an Elna one? They are twins. It takes a bit to work out the model numbers (have to compare specs), but that might be an option (Elna runs about 6 months or so behind Janome on a model release, though).

BTW, do please test drive the sit downs (as many different ones as you can). A Sweet Sixteen uses a puck device as a stitch regulator and I have seen dealers have trouble demoing it at quilt shows. Innova uses sensors built into the bed of the table (Bernina might as well). Innova will be more expensive, but having test driven pretty much all but the Bernina Q20, to me it is worth the extra.

But it doesn't matter what I think - it's which machine you ​bond with.

Michelle