Okay, an update on my audible alarm (or lack thereof)! I hauled that baby - about 35 pounds worth - to the sewing machine place. Turns out there is an audible alarm and it is on - but you can barely hear it. And I mean barely hear it. I had to listen several times to hear what the repair tech was telling me was the alarm - a very, very, very soft sort of buzz. I think I might hear it better if I could sew with my head resting on the bed of the machine - maybe. In other words, worthless as far as I am concerned. There is no way to change the volume either. I am quite disappointed.

My other problem with the needle threader is apparently operator error but I am not sure I will ever be able to hold my mouth just right enough to get the darn thing to work. The needle threader on my ancient Pfaff was much better and almost fail-proof. Again, I am really disappointed.

On a brighter note, the tech did adjust the bobbin winder so it doesn't stop when the bobbin is only half full.

I may send an e-mail to Pfaff to let them know about these problems since I am apparently not the only one experiencing them.

Forgot to ask the person who said her audible alarm worked - can you actually hear it?

I just called my Pfaff dealer and he says bring it in. He'll only need it for 3-7 days. I says NO WAY! I'd go into withdrawals. Well, I will listen real close the next time it's getting close to being empty. It's not worth taking it in if there's no remedy. How disappointing!

I have the Pfaff QE 4.0 and my alarm is quite loud. When the bobbin is low the alarm sounds and the machine stops sewing. If I have the machine set up to do FMQ with sensormatic and then turn the machine off, when I turn it on again the alarm sounds loudly to tell me it is in sensormatic mode. I would pursue the matter is it were me becasue the alarm should be usable.


I also have a pfaff 7530 and much prefer the way it tells me my bobbin is low. A red light starts to blink but the machine keeps sewing so I can run the bobbin right empty.

I have no trouble hearing the alarm, (and my hearing is less than perfect). I often can't hear my cell phone ring in my purse, but I have never missed my QE 4 alarm. I don't understand why yours is so hard to hear. My machine is new, do you have an older machine?

The low bobbin thread on my Janome is very loud, and it also stops. I look at the bobbin through the little clear window and often I can get a lot more done before it actually runs out. Still, I appreciate the heads up on it. The bobbin winder on mine also stops before it's really full, though mostly. Next time Jan goes in for her checkup I'll ask if that can be adjusted - glad to hear yours could be.

Well, here's another update about the bobbin alarm. I called Pfaff customer service and explained the problem. The answer was that yes, indeed, the audible alarm should be loud enough to be heard (I don't know what the technician thinks he is hearing!) and I will need to take my machine back to the shop. The lady went on to say that if I can't get satisfaction there, I should take it to another Pfaff dealer nearby. I really want to work with my local dealer - they are good folks in general - so I will start there and tell the tech he needs to get to the bottom of this. Wish me luck!