I have a Juki 2010 and it's fantastic for quilting, straight line or fmq, at least for me. The included walking foot is complete garbage, I use a Janome one, the lighting is also awful so I've got three different LED lights around my machine to light up everything just the way I like it. I considered a Janome 8900 when I bought my Juki but I love simple machines and my Juki is the easiest to use machine I've got, just keep her oiled and fresh needles and she's good to go.

Theorectically, you should be able to use the sraight stitcher machines without a walking foot for straight line quilting (at least that's what everyone tells me) but I've never been able to get good results without a walking foot.

My SIL always pack her machines in the SUV instead of shipping them. After reading what happened to you, I think I'd do the same.

I have a juki 2010, loved it for a while, then it had problems, and I finally got tired of dealing with the foot pedal problems.

Bought a Juki industrial 8700, and I've never been happier with it for piecing. I have an LA for quilting so can't comment if it would work for that - but it does have a very big throat. It's not portable at all, but that is not a concern, as I have other machines I can haul if needed (including the 2010).

So....my dilemma now is, should I buy back my Brother for $450, which is 12 years old, or buy a new Brother 1500SL for $800? Hubby says I should buy a new one. I have the Janome posted on sewitsforsale and I'm hoping to sell it.

Old or new??

my opinion is new. It will come with warranty and less chance of something else going wrong. I have two of these machine. Long story why but love both

I'm not as familiar with the Brother 1500 versions but the Juki TL versions had enhancements over the years.. small but still might be worthy to see what the new 1500SL features are compared to your $450 re-buy machine.

The only thing that's new with the 1500SL is the lighting. It's now LCD. This isn't a big enough "improvement" for me to justify spending the extra $$$ for a new one. My "old" reliable machine was quite sufficient. I think I've decided to pay the $450 to get my machine back and hope the Janome sells.

Which Janome walking foot did you get? I agree the one the comes with the Juki is less than ideal.

I agree with you, there's nothing new and I would have done the same thing.

I'd also have bought the old one back. They're pretty much indestructible. Mostly mechanical, so not much to go wrong with them and if the shop has fixed the old one, then you'll most likely get many more years out of it.

Rob