I know many of us prefer the OLD workhorse/reliable sturdy plain Jane machines, but, in all fairness, some do like all the NEW bells/whisltes/stitches, you name it on the Newer makes!

How do you know what to look for in a NEW toy?
Where do you begin?

Well, here are a couple of sites to help you out!
http://www.consumersearch.com/sewing-machines

http://www.consumersearch.com/sewing-machines

http://www.sewing-machines-for-beginners.com/

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/a...vice/index.htm

Hope you see something you can't live without! OR in the very least you learned something wonderful!

it is a good idea to visit dealers and shows and try out all of them you can find- then decide what you want- there are so many and each of us is different- and like different aspects of our machines- if you are going to put out all the $$ to buy a new one you want the one YOU LOVE--not the one i love.
try them out- it's like buying a car- there are lemons- there are ones that do this-and others that do that-
the only thing i really keep in mind is customer support- and classes- the fancy-expensive machine dealers give free owners classes to teach you to learn all those great new features- it is nice to be able to take advantage of that service- it's sad to spend $5000 on a new machine then only straight stitch with it because you have no idea how to do everything it does.

I agree, I found a huge difference between the Bernina I would use in class and come home to my Kenmore and it was like night and day.

I talked with DH and the ladies that buy and sell the Bernina's at my LQS. It was a lot of money either way but Wendy and the Shop Owner explained all the differences between the units. So we ended up going with the Bernina 550. The shop has a 10 month Bernina class that meets once a month and they teach you to do small and large projects using the various tools available on the machine. They did this because Wendy (Bernina Rep) said when she bought her's she didn't know how to use everything and didn't want to see new customers in the same boat. I'm very happy with my machine and DH has peace and quiet instead of hearing me yelling at the old machine.

Thanks

Bernina actually has a contract with their shops, that they HAVE to include classes! THey are also not supposed to sell to people who live outside of a 75 mile radius of the shop!
I found all that out when a shop in ANchorage, Ak would sell the lovely $5K machines to the village ladies and they would come to my quilting classes and not even know how to turn their machines ON...

Wow that's interesting I never knew any of that, guess it helps when you have a background in this kind of thing. I never knew about the radius thing I wonder why that is an issue for them. I know our shop is one of a few shops in our entire city so people that live in the surrounding areas come in to shop. My shop is also the area's repair shop for the machines as well.

One of the reasons why I switched machines was the warranty on the machines. I got a nice deal from the shop owner as well so I got a pretty good deal on mine.

Thank you for the heads up.