Originally Posted by
trueimage
I've been looking at this machine too. (Brother 420) Are you happy with it? I'm planning on taking the plunge next month. *crosses fingers*
Yes, I love love love it! It has everything I want, and THEN some. The needle threader is particularly AWESOME! With other machines, I can usually thread the needle myself before I figure out how to use the fiddly needle threader. With the Brother 420, you just lead the thread through the guides (takes a split second), and press the button. BAM! The thread is shot right through the needle.
It comes with a walking foot and a quilting foot (and others). It didn't come with an extension table, but I bought it separately. My previous machine was a Brother SQ-9050, and the feet and bobbins are interchangeable, so that's a huge plus for me.
I love the thread cutter, too. Press the button, and voila'!
I was originally looking at a fancy Janome machine (can't remember the model # offhand), but it was almost $1,200. It had 2 more inches of throat space, but all the other features were pretty much the same as the Brother PC-420. I have a Juki TL98Q that I quilt with, so for piecing, I don't really need the 9" of throat space that the Janome had, so buying the Brother at 1/3 the price of the Janome was a much much better deal for me.
I didn't know they'd been discontinued. Wow. It makes me want to buy another before they're gone! (I got mine off Amazon, too. With the extension table, it was $425-ish, with free 2-Day Prime shipping.)