I own a Bernina and a Janome and love them both. You will pay more for a Bernina, but IMO the extra money is worth the quality of the machine. I love my BSR, but some people don't care for it. Test drive both brands to pick your favorite.

Test drive the BSR , I have heard many pro's and cons on the BSR.

Definitely test drive each for piecing, quilting, and whatever sewing tasks you need, on YOUR fabric and quilt sandwiches, with your thread. I love my Berninas for precise piecing, gorgeous stitches, power over thicknesses, and convenient features like needle control in the foot pedal, easy, one-handed changing of presser feet, knee-lift, and pop-off stitch plate for easy cleaning. I prefer a vertical bobbin also. The harp on the 440 and 630 is 7.5", the Janome is listed as 9", but i know some manufacturers round 8 5/8" up to 9", so it might be only one inch difference. Dealer support does matter. Just know that I have 4 modern Berninas and have had ZERO problems with them. Enjoy your choice!

My mom bought me a 440QE!!! I have only taken the first class on it. They were pretty basic so I'm hoping to learn more the next class. Good luck with your purchase :) I'm sure you'll be happy with whatever you chose.

Love my Bernina machines. Purchased my 150QE in 1999 and I still have it and use it. Slowly moved up and traded in or sold several other Bernina machines and now have the 830 to go along with my 150 and my bernina serger. As others have said also make sure you check out the support and service record of the dealer where you purchase any machine.

mltquilt

I have the Bernina 440 also and love it. The one thing I don't like is the short throat space - it's a pain in the neck (literally) trying to manuver large quilts in that space. The BSR works great.

I used a Janome 6600 not only for my piecing but for Free Motion quilting. Although I loved my 6600, I decided I needed an even larger throat area and just purchased the Janome Horizons 7700. I love it as well. I sold my 6600 to my girlfriend who wanted to learn how to FMQ. She is now using it to FMQ and all her sewing needs.

I have a Bernina and a Janome. I like them both, however I got the BSR with my Bernina and I absolutely Love it. It makes FMQ so much easier and all my stitches are beautiful. I wouldnt try FMQing without it!! My Janome is more or less my backup machine, but its a good machine too, just does not do all that my Bernina does. If you are going to have just one machine I would recomend the Bernina.

HI - I have both the Bernina 430 and the Janome 6600. I used to have a Bernina 450 with BSR but sold that. I use the Bernina for piecing but would not part with the Janome. The reason I sold the Bernina with BSR was that due to the small throat space of the Bernina, the BSR was pretty useless to me for a regular size quilt. I found it went too slow as well. It just takes a little practice to get FMQ down pretty well, then you will find the BSR to be confining. I really need the larger throat space that Janome 6600 has to quilt, it makes thing so much easier. I also love the built in walking foot of the Janome, I use it for stitch in the ditch, straight line quilting (like cross hatching) and sewing on binding. I'm also using it for art quilts now, using lots of different threads with no problems. Having said all that, I love the feel and quality of the Bernina and love it for piecing. The narrower feed dogs really help with accurate piecing. I don't like using the 6600 for piecing at all. I like the Bernina for machine applique in quilt blocks also. If you are interested in a machine primarily for FMQ, I would say the 6600 is better due to the larger throat area. If you are doing only small quilts or wall hangings, the Bernina is fine. If I could only have one of these machines, I would have to pick the Janome because it is more versatile, due to the built in walking foot and the larger throat. Then I would get a Singer 301 (usually less than $150. for one in good shape) and use it for piecing. Just my two cents...

momto5 - please could you tell me more about the idiosyncracies, as I'm thinking about a 6600 at the moment, and need to know if there are any issues to watch out for.