I have the 6700.......for the same price I wish I had tried the 9400. I was trading in a 7700 that needed a new board and could have either for $2800. I spent so long trying the 6700, and loved it, that the shop was about to close. I would have had to drive back another day, and I was in the middle of a Christmas quilt....so I bought the 6700. When it sews it's a joy....perfect stitches.

I never know when I sit down to sew if it's going to be giving trouble. It's fussy about thread....CANNOT get the tension correct on all cotton C&C....OK, I can live with that. I had a HUGE problem with the corner of a quilt binding. Of course, I had 3 pins in it, but well back from the stitch line.....NO WAY was that machine going to sew that. Even after cleaning out the knot I could not sew at all, even on 2 pieces of quilt scraps, until I completely re-threaded from the spool. This went on several times until I gave up and glued the corner, then it sewed right over that thick corner.

I have trouble with the threader, but maybe that's just me. But, when I try and it "misses", the thread either breaks off or tangles around the needle, so it takes time to be able to try again.

I am not new to sewing or Janome, had 6500, 6600 and 7700, all of which I loved. In all those years of sewing I only once took one of them back to have a nick on the hook polished off. Three times with the 6700 I have said to my husband, "This has got to be taken in.". Usually if I continue to fiddle with it, I can figure out what it wants, and get to sewing. IMHO, I should not be having this much trouble sewing quilts.

OH, another thing is that occasionally the accu-feed disengages....for no reason. I quilted and bound a door quilt (50X72) in the last two weeks, and pieced some batting with a wide ZZ without that happening, yet last night when I went to quilt another quilt, it disengaged 3 times. Then I got about 1/4 of the 57x90 quilt done with a serpentine stitch and every thing was great. My dealer's wife admitted to me that she had had this happen to her, too, infrequently, but could never pinpoint what the was doing at the time to figure out the cause. Same for me. It's not caused by changing the accufeed or the soles. It happened the first week I had the machine (just before Thanksgiving) and then not until last night.

I just wish that I had taken the time to try the 9400.........The dealer does not do trade-ins, so I would have to sell it on my own. When everything is just right it sews beautifully.

Sue, I hope you will read by message about my 6700 and give me your opinion. Have you had any of the problems that I have? I don't think the machine malfunctions....it just seems "fussy". Is it all my fault???? Maybe it is......

I really like Janome. I went from my beloved Elna to a Janome 9500 in 2003 because I found out that Janome now makes the Elnas. My 9500 was a very satisfying machine. In fact, when I decided to bite the bullet and move up again last January, I selected the 140000. I am extremely happy with it too.

Onebyone- my pc420 has nearly 200 stitches +alphabet and I have used every one of them at various times as surface design elements on my fiber art pieces

Rob

I"m a big Janome fan. Love my 8200 , especially the big throat.

I have a Janome 6600P and just purchased a 6700P at Road to Ca. I pick it up next weekend. Hoping it is as good as my 6600!!!

The 9400 is a wonderful machine but you really have to learn to use it properly.
It's pretty fancy compared to the 6600. So far haven't had any major problem.
The needle threader seems to be a common problem on Janomes. Mine worked
on and off and now just doesn't work. Not enough of a problem to take it to the shop.
It can wait. I just want to warn you about the feet. If you want to do ruler work
Janome hasn't come up with the ruler foot yet. It's supposed to come
but we're still waiting. They do have the ruler foot for the 15000.
Like kalamaquilt said, test drive both machines. Check all the feet and
accessories that come with it and ask questions. Hope you'll find one
that you like.

I have that machine! It sews great but I had trouble with skipped stitches. A tech told me to use metal
bobbins and no more trouble.

I am totally a vintage machine user. I have purchased two new machines, sold one, and the other one is sitting in a closet. My favorite is and has always been my Viking 6430. Also have a Featherweight, 301A, and Vintage New Home D372.

I like mine so much that when the first one's feed mechanism stopped working after 5 years of heavy use (and a trip for routine maintenance which I am convinced is what messed up the feed mechanism) - I kept it as a dedicated fmqer and bought another one to replace it- Home Depot had a sale on them $320- so I lucked out. A lot of the stitches can be flipped using mirror image and you can program it to combine decorative stitches to get some pretty cool effects. Plus you can create your own original stitches so it actually has way more stitches than the ones shown in the manual. Love that machine! Will have to try the metal bobbbin trick when doing twin needle work since that’s the one area where I have had problems with skipped stitches on this machine.

Rob