Oh, forgot to say. Regarding the longarm rental, check your local quilt shops and studios some me be renting them. The studio I went to rent them by the hour or if you rent for the full day, you get a free lunch hour. They require you to take a class to learn how to operate the machines, which is a lot of fun. She also gave us zipper sets, so we can pin the quilt top and backing(separately) on zippers that loading the quilt on the LA would require zipping it on, saves time.
Regarding the ease of using a LA, well, it depends how picky you are, I'd rather have my quilt be all mine than perfect, and must say my needle skills are limited, so I just chose patterns I am comfortable with doodling. Because that is really what it is, if you can draw it, you should be able to quilt it, I used all free hand quilting, did these wavy lines on this one, loops on another and some flowers on a third. They all turned out pretty good for a novice I'd say. I chose to not take on the pressure of following pnatographs or certain designs for certain spots, just did all over, it was a lot of fun and very fast to finish the quilts. The LA gives a great sense of freedom comparing it to the domestic machine when quilting, it reminded me of driving a convertible, lol. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and plan on doing it again for quilting big tops I make. There is definitely room for growing and building a skill, but I think it is a fun and ,depending on what you choose, an easy option to finish your quilts. I say if you have a chance to try it, go for it.