What should I expect to pay for.......
 

I have an opportunity to buy a PFAFF GrandQuilter 1200 with stitch regulator and pantpgraph on an Inspira quilting frame. (extends to 10ft). The unit was originally purchased in 2006 by a lady who, unfortunately became ill. The unit was still in the box (the Sew and ZAC place would not take it back ?? ) when a friend of mine purchased it. She has used it very little and wants to sell it. to make more room in her spare room for scrapbooking and sewing. Anybody out there have a unit like this who can tell me pros and cons???? I have been wanting a mid arm and think this might be OK for personal use. I do not intend to do other peoples quilts. I am downsizing my quilt sizes from MONSTER to lap, twin, throw, table toppers,runners etc. Would appreciate any comments! Thanks in advance!!!

I have been very happy with my Grand Quilter with a Gracie frame!!! It is 10' but I only have room for the 5' part of it!!
It suits me to a T---I get bored too easily to make LARGE quilts!!!!
I have a groovy board that I have never used, a laser light for pantograffs, also never used and a stitch regulator that I use all the time!!!
I just meander or stipple all over---did try ruler work once and while it turned out mostly good.....it was very labor intensive--That may have been due mostly to the 9" throat!!
It works great for me--it holds my quilts together!!!

My friend bought this set up for $1,200.

We have this machine and have quilted about 40 quilts on it. There isn't a lot of room to do fancy patterns, but it does allow us to finish our quilts without spending another $100 on a long-armer (no offense to you LAers - but we have to save where we can). We had a bit of a learning curve, but once we got past that, we have loved the setup.

Darren

I believe the biggest limitation on this setup is the harp size of the machine. This is one reason why it would be worth less used than a midarm or longarm setup.

I have this Pfaff Grand Quilter, Inspira 10 foot table, and the Cruise Control stitch regulator. All purchased for around $2500 in 2006 - the stitch regulator alone was $500. I've quilted 40 or more of my own quilts on it, all from twin to mostly queen and a few king size. I find it too much time and effort to put anything smaller than a twin size on the rails. It's much quicker to quilt smaller things on my other Pfaff QE 4.0.
This set up has been really nice to have, but I hope to upgrade to a longarm next year with a 12 foot table. Seems like everyone I know has king size beds, and I really have to work with the monsters to fit on this 10 foot table. Either do the quilting before adding borders, or fold the borders in.
The sewing machine is a good one too. I don't remember when Pfaff quit making them in Germany but you are really lucky if that one was. Mine was made in Taiwan, but I have never had a problem with it.
If the price is reasonable go for it - Good Luck!!!