I have the Brother PE770 and it has two speeds. I do not use the lower speed very much, but for larger and intricate designs it is a very good feature. I also might use it with metallic threads. I always put all my top threads on my separate thread holder, which stands next to machine.The threads seem to come off the spool more even, at least for me.
Originally Posted by
mpspeedy2
I didn't realize that stand alone embroidery machines had different speeds. Neither of my two do that I am aware of. I have a Bernina Deco the original one and a Brother PE780D. I like to have a seperate sewing and embroidery machine so that I can do work on both at the same time. When I have trouble with thread breaking it is usually because it gets hung up while feeding. I prefer being able to use a spool of thread that is upright but my Brother feeds with the thread horizantal.