sewingpup

I have owned several Berninas. I have had a Bernina 440, 630, 570, 215, 475, and 590. I have enjoyed all of them except for the 570 which I truly believe was a lemon, after 3 attempts to fix the issue, I traded it in for the 590. I later learned that a software problem may have been the problem with the first machine and that it may have been fixed by a software update later made. The upper end Bernina's really do have a learning curve and definitely are not machines that are unbox and then take off on any project you want. Also, I really like the Bernina machines with a 5.5 maximum stitch width for piecing way better than the ones with the 9mm stitch width maximum. I noticed I am not alone in that, and Bernina has now introduced a 5 mm machine or two into each of the levels of their Bernina line. I no longer have the 440 or 630, or 570. My 215 also as far as I can tell, is no longer made but it is a smaller machine with just a handful of stitches but is wonderful for taking to quilting retreats or just to do simple piecing on it. That one has never had a problem. Actually, the only one that I had problems with was my 570. The 590 was a bit frustrating to learn how to use as it has so many features, but I really have not had any other problems with it other than a learning curve and I definitely would take the classes offered by the dealer. It embroiders beautifully. My 475 is my favorite machine for doing piecing and it has enough of the bells and whistles that I have grown to love. Oh, I traded in my 440 for my 630 for a few more features. I traded in my 630 as I had used it for a long time it was starting to sound a bit rattlely although it was still stitching fine, for that lemony 570. The 570 was enough of a pain that I would have switched brands but I had really liked my pervious Bernina's so I took a chance on the 590 which so far has been just fine and really does stitch nice and smooth but as I said above, there is a learning curve and the machine talks back to you if it doesn't like something you are doing...true, it will not stitch until you clean up your act. The 475, my newest machine I bought because of the color (aqua) and it has a 5 mm max stitch width so that dude is my main piecing machine leaving the 215 as my portable and the 590 for embroidery and also fancy stitching. Both the 475 and 590 can use the BSR and they also take most of the same feet.