I still have a bad taste in my mouth from Line 6. Bought into the hype on the HD500. It sounded bearable at best and most of fx's just sucked, and the eq options were very frustrating. I wasted countless hours tweaking it, dealing wit all sorts of issues and noises. The Helix sure does look pretty cool but for $1300? If I was going to spend that much I'd probably pony up more for an axefx. I'd hate to be stuck driving a new Volkswagen when I really expected a BMW... For now I'm quite satisfied with my $335 11R I bought new a few months ago. Dumped my HD last Saturday for $250. I still own a POD 2.01. I don't need or want to pay for scribble pads, capacitive multifunction switches or 4 fx loops.. Ir loading is cool but the $599 amplifire does that. When it's released I'll go down to a big box musak store and check it out.