Originally Posted by
Geri B
Curious...what is it that makes you unhappy with 8900? just trying to make a decision myself
My chief complaint is the weirdness of the Acufeed foot. Last night I had a lot of problems with thread breaking - I haven't had that problem in a few weeks, but last night it was a major pain. I think it might have been the thread - this machine does NOT like Coats & Clark cotton thread at all; I have consistent breaks when trying to use it, regardless of needle type/size. I get best results with Aurifill and Mettler. For me, decorative threads are a real pain to work with, and I like using them on quilt tops, again regardless of the needle type/size. Also not really crazy about the stitch quality at times - the decorative stitches start out well but then get weird the further along you go with them. A few other things I don't really care for, but I'm not crazy about the feet primarily. As someone else said on another board, there is no really good point of reference on them because so many are rounded. Some owners have complained that the Accufeed foot plate falls off and/or has broken during sewing but I've not had THAT problem thank goodness!
On the flipside, I DO like the harp/throat space, and the quick change throat plate. I also can get a true quarter inch seam, after I made a couple of adjustments, and then saved them. And believe it or not, I do like to FMQ with this machine (though I have limited experience with other machines doing FMQing) as long as I'm using a thread type the machine likes. Most of the problems I mentioned above have been when I'm piecing, which I've found odd.
I'm still on the fence about keeping it - I've thought about keeping it set up as a FMQ machine but I've made no decision. I have, however, ordered a Brother VM 5100 DreamCreator machine that I will pick up on March 14th. I'm thinking I'll decide if I want to keep the Janome after I have the DC and have used it a bit.