I have my eye on a Handi Quilter Sweet 16 sit down mid-arm machine. I know I will never invest the money or space into a long arm machine, so I wonder if a mid arm machine would be the next best thing. Does anyone have a Sweet 16? Would you recommend it? At $4,999. is it worth the investment? I currently machine quilt on a Janome 6600. Would the Sweet 16 give me a lot more flexibility?

Same here, I don't have the space for a longarm even if I did have the money. I'll be watching this thread.

I have an HQ Sixteen however it is not the sit down kind as you mentioned. I purchased it new back in '05.
I would look into other machines before making a final
decision.
I would give my machine a C-.

I have debated....I just don't like how much space it takes. I am waiting for a Long Arm/frame that is easy to assemble and easy to store. Space is the issue...

Thank you for your feedback. The Sweet 16 is an upgrade from the original Sixteen and it has only been on the market for less than 6 months. Since these machines ONLY free motion quilt, having no feed dogs, you can't do piecing, or even sew a straight line (as accurately as on a regular sewing machine). They don't have any built-in stitches, or bells & whistles. Why are they so expensive? I would think they would cost less than a good quality sewing machine since they only do one task!

I have an HQ 16-with a long table. Not sit-down. I really like my machine! It has saved me lots of $$ and time. Nice quality machine, and great customer service!

I got mine in November last year, and I think it's great. If I had a long arm set up with the frame, I wouldn't be able to stand at it for very long, so sitting down suits me fine. I recently finished quilting a king sized quilt on it, no problem at all, but then I am used to FMQing, so moving it under the needle wasn't strange to me.

I have also used a short ruler (don't forget you still need 1/4in thick ones), and I bought a set of circles and squares that have come in handy too. - you just have to hold onto the ruler and quilt at the same time, while moving it under the needle, but I managed it very well.

I like the ability to dial in a speed, and gradually built up from about 30% at first, to about 60% now - any faster and I don't seem to be able to move the quilt quick enough. What it means is that the machine will go at the speed you dialled in, and you just press the foot pedal all the way down. It' s much easier than trying to keep the pedal in a set position while moving the quilt at an even pace as on a domestic machine.

I've had absolutely no problems with tension either, and I've tried several different makes of threads so far, from bottom line to cotton to rayon and poly cotton.

See if you can't try it out somewhere just to make sure you are happy with it - by the way, I forgot to say that the table is height adjustable, so I put it at the same height as my machine cabinet, and then I just slide my chair from one to the other. Having all that room is an absolute luxury for me, I have no regrets buying it at all.

Oh, I so want one...saving my pennies!

If you are going to buy one (and I want one sooooo bad!), check the prices from the dealers. I saw one advertised at Ken's I think for $4,000. I was in awe.

Also, I saw one advertised on QuiltersFleaMarket for $3,000, never been out of the box.

I'm renting one from my LQS for $15 per hour. I want to try for a long time before I invest that much.

Very True, I purchased mine less than a year old, for 4500, including the complete ppf. Mine is the HQ16 and is stitch regulated, I have not had any problems with it since I got it set up and have done seven quilts on it since getting it in November. I actually love it, thought I wanted a larger throat since I got it, but have since learned that one can still only quilt the reach of their arms (and being able to control it the more you outstretch your arms)