soccertxi

as with most things it is truly what works for YOU. I use my stitch regulator all the time. A blog friend has one and sometimes does not realize it has been turned off! I love quilting with my long arm...and yet, I see quilters online all the time that do WONDERFUL work on their domestic machines-more than I can do on my long arm. See if you can find someone who will let you try and quilt with and w/o a stitch regulator. If you can go to a show, try out every machine you can get your hands on. Even if its not in your price range. Get a feel for them. One will call your name and fit your budget!

aborning

I agree. When you have stitch regulation, you then only have to concentrate on your design. Otherwise you have to concentrate on both your design and your speed and like everyone on the QB always says: Practice, practice, practice--you don't learn how to be a good longarmer overnight. When I bought my longarm--I did not even consider buying one without a stitch regulator because I knew I wanted to wuilt for both myself and for customers---and I am way too anal about how my product looks when it is done. I just knew I would not be happy if my stitches were all different lenghts. But that is my opinion. Everyone is different in their talent and end result desired look. ALso remember that the longer the throat, the farther away you will be reaching when you are quilting. I do my best quilting at about 12'' from the front bar. Even though I have a 26" throat--if I am working on just a single block or a single horizontal border, I roll my quilt so that my quilting space is about 12" away form the front bar. Again, everyone is different in how they quilt and how they stand and how they are comfortable when they are quilting.

quilttiger

I had a Grace stitch regulator on the shortarm (before I sold it) and have a stitch regulator on my Bailey now. Prior to that, I did not have one. I have found the regulator very, very helpful so I can concentrate on my FMQ.

Nilla

I've been researching long arms for about a year now and I definitely consider a stitch regulator to be a requirement. I think it's different for each quilter, but knowing the stitches will be consistent will free me up to focus on design etc. I suspect that with experience I'll need it less and less, but in the beginning it will help me get started quicker.