Hi, my first 9700 was a lemon always in for repair,at the most I would have a week and it would be back in again. It was replaced and I have had no complaint, except they are a bit touchy to get the tension right. They are a good machine to learn on. I have bought a Hus D2, from a friend of mine and love it. It is a mater of how much money you can afford. Another friend has the latest Brother,I can tell you it is a dream machine,I will need to win gold loto first...he he

That was the first embroidery machine I bought and I loved it. (I upgraded to the MC11000 last year)

Janome has retired this model. Questions to ask: Are you buying it from a dealer? If not, where can you get it serviced? Does it take a CF card or does it have to have a special card and reader? Does it come with software for getting the designs from your computer to the card? There was a thread here a while back about a 9500 (I believe) which was obsolete due to Janome no longer making parts for it. I worried about my 10001 and talked to my service/dealer. He said not to worry as long as I still had a computer that is compatible with my software. The software was originally written for WindowsXP which will no longer be supported by Microsoft in about a year. Fortunately Janome posted updates to support the software on Windows 7 but beyond that my software will be outdated. I plan to keep my old XP desktop to dedicate to my embroidery machine. It is already off-line so as long as I have it and my laptop I'm ok. However you need to take all these things into consideration. Good luck and let us know what you decide.

nope but i will push your question up to the top for you hugs

I have one and love it. I didn't realize Janome was retiring it, I didn't see it listed in the retired section on the Janome web site. I use windows 7 and there is no problem with the software, (digitizer pro v1). Yes I did have to update from the Janome web site but after that it works great! The only thing is that it uses a card to transfer designs (well mine does not sure how the new ones do it) and I was concerned that I couldn't buy a small mb card at the store. I eneded up ordering one from Janome, it was really expensive $50. You can get a usb for a much more reasonable price. Overall I love mine and it has always worked well for me. Good Luck on your purchase, it is very exciting buying a new machine. Anna Cameron