Thanks for the input. Does the Voyager seem heavy to move around? The machine, I guess is 70 pounds while most others are around 40 pounds.
Thanks!

I just bouht a Tin Lizzie and love it. I also have health problems and could not fight with a heavy quilt on reg. machine. I got mine for 6500.00 at Needle & Thread in Statesville NC. (Reg stitches) They are the nicest people you could ever meet. They cme to WV and set the machine up and she had me to do a quilt, I had ready before she would leave. No one else would even come set it up for me. There were two shops within 10 miles of my hame that sells them , but would not come and set up. Treasa at "Needle and Thread" Told me if I had any trouble to just call her. And I have. LOL (It was me threading the machine wrong ) but she was there for me. That means a lot.
Nena

I use my Juki TL98QE and roll the quilt up, the center gets a little hard, I stitch top to bottom through the middle, then side to side through the middle, then quilt each section, always quilting next to quilting and I love it. I do meandering or large stipple. I have no room for any kind of frame or long arm. This works great for me. I have quilted 36 by machine so far and hope to do lots more. If you have room and money some kind of long arm w/frame would be a good deal.

mine has been very reliable. i've had it for 2- years and had one small problem (my fault) with a small spring wire that boinged out of place. i shouldn't have done something i did. i called the factory and they walked me through the problem right then and there. later when i discovered their website someone posted the same problem and it was immediately answered with pictures. it's basically a mechanical machine, so a repairman can fix it. i did not get the new computerized one and i'm not sorry.

i tell everyone to go to the blogsite of the machine you're interested in and read the posts. lurk for a while and see what kind of problems people are having. but remember that people with no problems at all don't post in.

The Voyager moves ever so easily! Just a gentle touch and it glides along the frame. I think it has more to do with the frame than the machine as far as movement.

Pfaff also makes an 18" quilter now. I have tried it several times and will soon have one of my own. It is smooth and easy to use.

I recently (October 2009) purchased a Pfaff 18.8 quilter with the Inspira frame. I love the machine and can quilt a throw (70x70) in about 2 hours, once it's loaded onto the frame.

I spent about $7000 on my set up and that did not include the QBOT, something I felt I could add at a later date. I did spend about $350 extra for the 3 foot extensions which enabled me to set the frame up at 8 ft. as I did not have the space for the full 10ft. With the 8ft set-up, I can quilt up to approx 80 inches. I figure if I ever have anything larger than that, I can send it to my longarmer!

After attending a quilt show this weekend and playing around with some of the different machines and frames there, I found that my machine moved more freely than many set-up on a wooden frame. The Inspira frame is aluminum. I didn't look at wooden frames prior to purchasing.

My advise to you is to find a dealer who provides support for the machine through the learning curve!

If you have a chance, go to the local shows and test drive all the machines and see which one fits you best. Then find out about local service, so you don't have to ship your machine out. Next, ask about education. Where will you have to go to learn how to use your machine and technique.

the tin lizzie comes with the stitch reg and the poles can be up to 140", since you supply the poles from home depot. because you use your own poles, you don't pay shipping on them. it has a wood frame made my Grace (? it's downstairs.) there is no extra cost for anything, unless i want to computerize it in the future. it's about $7000. it's very smooth and i only ever do 94-98" quilts. (i once did a twin as a gift)the tech help is phone help here in nj (because the have only two dealers far from me) but very good. the wood frame has been very easy to retrofit to my own specs. for example, i moved the laser light to a location i like better and my dh added an outrigger to hold very large spools of thread.