sunrise450

The simply sixteen Handi Quilter is on sale at our local quilt shop. I have long wanted a long arm but can't afford one. Then this one came up for sale. If anyone has a handi quilter or this machine in particular, could you let me know how or if you like it?
DH has said that he will take me Monday to look at it but I wanted some first hand information before I went.
or if you have any problems with it?
Looking forward to some answers!

Prism99

You mean the Sweet Sixteen sitdown machine? I have heard only good things about it. What kind of sale price are they offering? Sometimes used machines come up for sale in quilt guilds; seems to me one quilter got it for half price that way.

MadQuilter

I have a sweet 16 and can only recommend her. One thing I would recommend is to get the overlay so you don't have any bumps where the machine sits. It makes ruler work much easier. I am still on the fence with the tru stitch regulator. Have not found the sweet spot for me, but planning to do get to know that feature much better in the near future.

thimblebug6000

I know next to nothing about these set ups, but just looked at the for sale section on the forum here and see someone has a start up system for sale totally different, but just wanted to make sure you had seen it. http://www.quiltingboard.com/items-s...r-t272346.html

indycat32

Excuse me for jumping in, but the Simply 16 is not the same as the Sweet 16. I've been looking at the Simply 16 on line, but there are no shops near me that have it. From looking at the Handiquilter website I think the Simply 16 is new.

sunrise450

Thanks for the information. She lives way to far for me to even think of picking it up! Nice set up though
The handi quilter is on sale for under $5000 though including table (5 ft.) but not including the stitch regulater. It can be extended in the future if a person want to do larger quilts.

sunrise450

The sale is for the Simple 16 but I think I saw where the Sweet 16 is the same price.

Prism99

Wow, had never heard of the Simply 16. Must be brand new. The HQ site has this comparison chart of machines:
http://www.handiquilter.com/machine/comparison/

Handi Quilter has a pretty good reputation, but I know nothing about the Simply 16. Do examine the frame to see how sturdy it is. You want poles that don't bend. I know that some of the Grace frames have wooden poles that tend to bend in the middle; don't know what HQ frames are like.

ckcowl

HandiQuilter is a great company, easy to work with, great customer service & tech support. My first machine was a HQ16, quilted a few hundred quilts over a ten year span.upgraded to an HQ Avante last year.

QuiltingVagabond

The machine is the same as the Sweet 16 I believe, but the Simply 16 is brand new, so you won't find a lot of reviews on it yet.
I have the sitdown 16 and love it. I don't think I would like to have to reposition the quilt on the bars to do the other half if it was bigger than lap quilt size. JMO