Originally Posted by Dayken
Hi, I'm new here but I hav been enjoying all you ladies and gentlemen for several months. You have helped me a lot and made me feel welcome, even though you don't know me. Thanks. My question is about embroidery machines. I am wanting to buy one but don't know how much to invest to get a good machine. I am looking at the Brothers 770, The Janome 350 and the 11000. I have also looked at the Viking Diamond - but it is so expensive I don't know if I could justify that much money on something I haven't done before. I have been quilting for six months and I have completed 10 quilts ( One King, Three Queen, the rest are twin or lap quilts) Thanks for your input. Attached is a picture of one of my quilts.
That is a beautiful quilt. Let me just say that I have a Diamond and I just love it. If you do a lot of computer design and a lot of embroidery then the Diamond is great. If you didn't want to spend that much, you could go down to the Ruby or the Topaz. I also have the topaz and like it a lot too. It has the larger throat and a memory stick and the large hoops but is considerably cheaper than the Diamond. My dealer says she has tried other machines and finds the Vikings are more user friendly and easy to understand than the other brands. I don't know because I have never tried the others. My suggestion is to try them all out and make a list of the features you find important to you and compare them against one another. Don't go just by the price. The Husqvarna products have great warranties and service and also have wonderful support via internet and the dealers. The most important thing is to know what you want from the machine you end up with. My Diamond was a floor model that had been serviced and an extended warranty included at no additional cost for $3000 less than the original price. So check out them too. You may even be able to get a machine that has been traded in on an upgrade. Good luck with whichever you decide on.