Long Arm Owners, Can you please Advise me?
 

This is for sale in my area. I can't seem to get the picture to copy but I'll keep trying. Can anybody advise me if this is a good deal or not? To me it's a lot of money, so I don't want to make a mistake. I appreciate your help so much. Thanks, Wendy

Inspira Quilt frame, Pfaff Grand Quilter & QBot (Quilt Robot)

Quilting System for sale. Includes:
- Inspira Imperial Frame (the latest), can be set up at either 5 or 10 feet, included is a 3-foot extension kit to go to 8 feet (if not quite enough room for a 10-foot setup). Sturdy metal frame and rails with adjustable height legs. All original manuals, dvd, parts.
- QBOT automated quilting robot
- Quilter's Cruise Control (stitch regulator for use with QBot)
- Pfaff Hobby Grand Quilter 1200 (twin to the Viking Mega Quilter). A great sewing machine on or off the frame for piecing, with a wide harp to make quilting a breeze. All original accessories, manual, knee lift, shipping carton. Extra bobbins and large bag of quilting thread included.
Great condition, with little use, only set up at the 5 foot length. Will assist with delivery and setup.
$ 4300., will consider offers. Will sell QBot separately.

here's a link to a new one on sale http://www.sewingmachinesplus.com/qu...FcsAQAoddxO2Yg
the price in your ad is lower than this sale price and the sale setup doesn't include the Qbot. so i'd say yours is a good deal, assuming all works correctly

Don't know if it's a good deal but could you price everything out via web and see what each cost new? Then depending on age of everything offered determine if it's a good deal.

I have that same set up, I have the viking 18x8 but they are the same machine. I love my set up. That is a very good deal.

Sounds like a very good deal to me! I have checked into used longarms and the savings from the shops are minimal.

I don't think it's the same as the Viking 18x8, I believe its the same as the Viking Megaquilter 9". That would make the frame and machine worth under $2000 new. The Cruise control is worth about $300 new. The Qbot is the expensive part, about $3400 on the web, so this package is selling for about $1300 under new prices.

Whether or not you can make good use of the Qbot part using the 9" harp on the Megaquilter is questionable given the limited quilting area, but if you plan on upgrading later to a larger throat machine, like the 18 x 8, this is probably a pretty good deal.

The Pfaff Grand Quilter has only a 9" harp size. This becomes a major limitation for quilting. Midarm machines go up to 13", longarm machines typically are 18 to 22 inches or so. The problem with a 9" harp is that you run out of space to roll the quilt very quickly. Even if you can do a larger pattern at the beginning of the quilt, by the end you have only a few inches of space to quilt in. Many quilters quickly outgrow the 9" limitations and want to move up in size.

Personally, I would not call this a longarm setup, and I would want to see it priced at about half retail. At $4300 it seems over-priced to me. At half retail, it would be an okay setup for a beginning quilter, not a great one. The QBot might or might not make the setup worth purchasing. There are pros and cons to using a computerized sewing system.

For more information, you may want to join the homequiltingsystems group on groups.yahoo.com . This is a very active group of frame quilters with all different kinds of setups. In general, they advise doing extensive research for a year before purchasing a system because there are so many options available, including price.

I have to agree with Prism99, sounds similar to my set-up with a 9" throat...a lot more than I paid and mine was a new machine, but you do quickly outgrow the quilting area....at the end of a queen, I am lucky to have 3-4 inches of quilting space.

I simply CANNOT thank you girls enough!!! Because of your answers, and my non-existent knowledge on this subject, I have decided to let this deal pass. It makes really good sense to me when you spoke of the 9" throat. I really do not want to need to upgrade at any point. I don't mind upgrading because I WANT to, but I don't want to have to. I hope this makes sense, Thank you so much for being my conscience and keeping me straight. With much Gratitude, Wendy

If that price includes the Qbot, it is a great deal. You can always sell the Qbot for $2000. On its own. I have quilted on a Brother Nouvelle for years and can easily do a queen size. King size , I send out to be quilted. You can do a lot with a 9" harp and it is excellent for pantograms as it has a stitch regulator.

I had this setup to start, and quickly came to despise the 9" harp and the bobbin - would be changing bobbins sometimes twice in one pass. Moved up to the Pfaff 18.8 and now am a happy camper. The bigger Pfaff also has the bigger bobbin and the bigger harp.

There are some good research resources for longarms - including http://www.longarmuniversity.com/ . There are often demos at shows. If there are some la's near you, chat them up and ask what they do and don't like about their machines. Being able to do some real hands-on work on candidates will really help your decision.

I agree with Prism99. I think it's too much money for a used one--should be about half the price of new, imho too. And I am sure you will quickly feel really limited with a 9" throat. I find that whatever the throat space is, I am usually comfortable quilting in half that space. That's not to say you can't quilt a wider path, I just find it a bit uncomfortable and kind of unnatural, because I am worrying I will end up with squared off feathers all in a line at the limit of my reach, etc. (Hope that makes sense.) And then towards the bottom of a large quilt, you'll have even less space to move, because of the thickness of the already quilted quilt on the take up bar inside the throat, and be even more restricted. Whatever you buy, get the largest throat space you can afford. And I think a stitch regulation system is important, if you can swing it, because it really shortens the learning curve. Good luck!