Judi in Ohio

Try the Juki's. No doubt the strongest motor in the business. The piercing power is awesome. In case you need to repair something they will do it, while your Vikings, Janome's, Pfaff's, are doing the motor shut down thing. And the fmq is wonderful, all under $1,000.
I have two Juki's - the 98 & the F-600 - I've owned every brand and Juki is by far the strongest and best - that's mho.

kittyannart

I did try the Juki 400, two in fact. Unfortunately both had issues within the few days of owning them. I was a bit incredulous as I had heard great things about them. I guess I got unlucky and received two lemons! Needless to say I'm a bit shy about trying them again. I do not have a Juki dealer near to me so had to order from the internet. Too expensive to ship back for repairs if needed so decided to stay with a local source. I have a Viking Designer SE and have never had a moment's problem with it nor the Pfaff's I've had. I've never had a Janome, the 6600P is almost all metal, I liked that, reminds me of the sturdy older machines I learned to sew on many years ago.

romanojg

The Viking mega quilter has all of these features; plus super fast and I never have problems with the tension on it. They have tow but the 9in throat one is in your price range. It's a great machine, very heavy duty. You might be able to find them on sale cheaper since they aren't making this one anymore. I was tempted to use it as a trade in when I bought my Ruby but at that time I wasn't sure how the Ruby would do. I'm making my final decision on selling it after I take a class in June using the Ruby FMQ and more. You can't go wrong with a Viking, I have 3 and that's the only reason I'm thinking of selling my Mega quilter if my Ruby will do the job as well. I'm on a fixed budget so it would come in handy to sell it but only if I have something else that will do the job as well. Good luck on your search. You should be able to find several under or around 1000 that will fit your needs.

romanojg

I don't know where you heard about that motor shut down on Vikings (can't speak about the others) I have 3 Vikings; one is very old, one a few yrs old and the other one about 6mos. None of them have ever had a motor shut down and I know alot of people who work theirs harder than me and still have never heard of this. I don't know anything about the Juki's or the other machines but my Vikings work hard and never have an issue.

myreda

Take a look at Juki. I have the TL98Q and I love it. Amazon has the updated version of this machine within your price range. (I think it is the TL-2000qi) It is a lot of machine for the money.

Rose Marie

I have a Sapphire with the 10 in throat. Great machine. Use it for stitch in ditch and free motion borders.
I also have a Jane which is the same as the Brother 1500. Do not like it. It is set up on a frame with a stitch regulator.
Had to buy a strait stitch for the frame and regulator. It is a big hassle to use and wish I could afford a long arm machine for my frame. The biggest problem is having to walk around the frame alot just to turn the wheel to move the needle. Also have to move the machine to the end of the table to thread it since it has a very old fashioned threading with lots of turns and even one section that you put the thread thru a hole. I hate the under the machine bobbin case also much prefer drop ins.
Just bought a Brother xl2600 light weight for classes and it is a great little machine and inexpensive.