Babylock Crafter's Choice vs. Viking Emerald 183 (or something else entirely)?

I was hoping to call upon the collective wisdom here at the SMS forums to help me make some decisions about my upcoming sewing machine purchase.  I have about $600 to spend (thank you, economic stimulus package!) on a new machine.  I mostly sew clothing for my daughters and myself, with an occasional quilt thrown in for good measure, and I guess I'd call myself an advanced beginner.  I only use the basics on my current machine (a Brother Pacesetter), but that's mostly because I haven't taken the time to figure out anything beyond the basics.

I've visited my local sewing machine store and my local Joann's; the first recommended the Babylock Crafter's Choice and the latter recommended the Viking Emerald 183.  Both are $599.  Does anyone have any experience (positive or negative) with either of these machines (or even either of these brands)?  I'd be open to suggestions for other machines, as well, though I don't know of any other dealers close by that sell other brands.

The Viking seems to have more features - lots of stitches, including the alphabet and 3 more feet than the Babylock (including a gathering foot, which seems cool - I have two daughters and sew a *lot* of ruffles), but I don't know how the two brands compare in terms of quality.  The Viking only comes with three hours of instruction at Joann's, whereas the Babylock would include unlimited instruction at the dealer, so that's kind of a disadvantage to the Viking (is three hours enough?  I don't really have that much time to spare for instruction anyway, I guess).

One of my highest priorities is finding a quiet machine (my Brother Pacesetter, which is pretty quiet for a mechanical, has a nasty habit of waking my youngest daughter from her naps).  Both of these machines sounded quiet to me, but it was hard to really compare them since they're not in the same place.

Any thoughts or experiences that anyone could share on these two machines, or other comparable ones in that price range, would be really appreciated!

I don't have any experience with either of these machines, but if noise if a factor for you I would go back in and test both machines again.  This time though, I would take some home decor fabric or at least several layers of fabric and test sew with both machines.  In my opinion, being able to sew through thick stuff quietly and well is the best test of a good machine. 

Just an update, in case anyone happens upon this thread because they're interested in either of the machines.

I ended up going with the Viking Emerald 183, for a couple of reasons.  Having had a chance to test out the Babylock at a class I was taking, I realized that the control panel just really didn't feel very intuitive to me - I really had to think hard about how to change the settings, each and every time.  Also, the 5/8" mark on the throatplate of the Babylock is in a very inconvenient place, and I would have had to worry about fiddling with tape or a magnet or something to mark that line for myself; since I'm mostly using my machine for sewing clothing, this would have been a pretty constant issue.  It's a relatively tiny inconvenience, but I know that it would have bothered me.  Also, the Viking came with more accessories and also had more embroidery stitches, including the alphabet.

I'm generally pretty pleased with the Viking.  I like the embroidery functions, though I doubt that I'll actually use them all that much.  The different feet are awesome - I've enjoyed exploring what they can all do.  It stitches well and evenly, and I haven't had any issues with tension so far.  It has a nice "fix" function, that stitches the thread in place 5 or 6 times so that you don't have to backstitch. 

There are a couple of things that bug me about it, but nothing that would have been a deal breaker for me.  One (that might be a deal breaker for others) is that if you slow down too much while still having the foot pedal depressed, you have to completely lift your foot up and then press it down again to start stitching again, which makes speed control kind of tricky on it.  Once you get used to it, though, it's not that bothersome.  It only takes a double needle up to 2.5 mm wide; I wish it would take a 4 mm.  The needle up/down function is kind of inconsistent - I set it to needle down, but sometimes it ends on needle up, which I don't think is supposed to happen.

Anyway, hopefully this info may come in handy to others who are considering purchasing one or the other of these machines!  Both seem like pretty good machines for the money, and I can see why someone would like the Babylock, it just turned out to really not be the right machine for me.