Janome Jem and Babylock Audrey
 

Like many of you I am looking for something that I can take to classes or have in my RV... that is small enough to store in the RV....and lightweight enough for me to lift! Neither of my machines fit that category very well although I wouldn't part with either of them!
I know many people on here own a Janome Jem and are quite pleased with it. Does anyone here own a Babylock Audrey?? Audrey is also lightweight @ 12.8 lbs and packed with stitches, including the blanket stitch which I would use a lot on applique.. I don't think the Jem has a blanket stitch, please correct me if I am wrong... I know the approximate cost of a Janome Jem but am wondering if anyone has a ballpark figure on the Babylock Audrey.
http://babylock.com/a-line/audrey/
I originally keyed in on a FW but that has gotten way too expensive for me!

Thanks for your input everyone!

I think they are comparable in price, the audrey is very popular for classes and travel but i don't have one, ihave heard good things about it

I love my Janome gem, it has some attachments, and it has a great response, quilts faster than i do, lol,. I don't know anything about the3 audreym I have never heard about it.

Thank you for the info Dolphyngyrl & jollyquilting! Many places online are selling the Janome Jem Gold 660 for $199 right now. Is the Janome Jem 3 an upgraded model? That is all I see on the Janome website.

The Babylock Audrey is almost the same machine at the Brother SQ9050. The Brother machine is sold at Wal-Mart for $200.00. I bought it about a year ago, it's for our RV, classes, etc. It works great, lightweight and comes with a walking foot. My local Wal-Mart does carry other machines but I bought mine online, they have a bigger selection online and you can get free shipping to the store.

I have the Audrey Babylock for classes and take it in our camper. Don't have any complaints except that it really vibrates if you try to go faster than very slow. It comes with it's own carry bag and fits in it very tightly. In classes I have watched people use small Janome's (not sure if they were the Jem or not) and I wish I had boughten the Janome instead. They don't vibrate like the Audrey does. Other than vibrating I don't have any complaints with my Audrey. Good luck and recommend you try out each of the different machines before you decide which one to get. PS I take my Featherweight camping too, the Audrey only goes in case I need decorative or zig zag stitchs. Unless you need a machine immediately I would take my time and test drive the different machines.

Kat

Kat; thanks so much for the info on the Audrey!! That's good to know about the vibrating, I will definitely check out both before I buy either!

Don't the Babylock machines like Audrey have the default needle position to the left, so when a quilter puts her needle in the center all the markings on the plate are off? That was one of the reasons why I didn't go with a Babylock machine. Not fond of the markings being off, plus can't get used to using a machine where the needle is naturally to the left of center.

My babylock espire was center default needle position

Dont discount low end brothers, i have my brother sq9050 for classes and travel, and i absolutely love it. Got it at walmart and i use her a lot. Has lots of nice feature needle down, drop feed dogs, comes with all the feet you need, a table an all around nice machine for 200 . I think it weighs 12lbs.