Heckel

Hope I am posting in the right section. I am new to this. I am going to purchase a new machine for myself for Christmas. I can't afford a really expensive one, but want one to quilt with. I am looking at the Singer 7470 Confidence Electronic and the 7469 Confidence Quilter. Has anyone used either of these machines? Which one do you recomend? Or should I look at something else around this price range?

hobo2000

Look at the Brother Nouvelle 1500, Its about $800.00 but has a 9" throat, auto trimmer, needle up/down, knee lift. Its a great machine and can be used on a frame for larger quilts.

PegD

I have the Singer 7470 and love it. I've had it for a couple years now.

MadQuilter

If I were buying a new machine for quilting, I would look at a machine that has a larger throat space, needle up/down, and good lighting. There are other features that can be important but those are my top 3 these days.
Not sure why you picked Singer but there are so many other brands on the market that I would go out on a hunt. Also - I find it very important to test-drive the heck out of these machines because you want to be on a honeymoon for a long time.

My personal experience with Singer wasn't all that great. The one I checked on sounded great on paper but really didn't work well out of the box. Other people on the board are perfectly happy with their Singer. So you never know.

Yarn or Fabric

I had bought a Singer from HSN a few years back and it sewed miserably. After talking to Singer's customer service, they determined that my machine was a lemon and for me to return it and get another one... just the thought of that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I ended up going in to town and looked at what the dealers and Walmart had. A friend of mine just bought a Brother from Walmart and is tickled pink with it. It does everything that she wants it to do and then some.

I personally sew with a Janome and embroider with a Brother. I used to embroider with a Janome but ended up getting hoop envy, got an amazing deal on a new machine with a big horking hoop (that I have yet to use - shhh don't tell hubby!) and haven't looked back.

I would look around a bit more. There are some that have had good experiences with Singer but I'm not one of them and I personally would go with a different machine. Janome sells a few machines that are in that price range - at least they used to. I'd take a spin around at your local dealerships and see what is out there. Can't shake a stick at a dealership - if anything at all is wrong, they fix it on the spot and those threaders can be a bit fidgety to say the least. Once they are in the right spot, they're fabulous but all of the machines I have had that have the threader needed a bit of tinkering ;)