BabyLock Tiara vs Tiara 2 Vs Tiara 3?
 

I've tried to find the answer but my Google-ing skills have failed me.

Does anyone know the difference between these three machines? (Or any of them?)

Watson

Go t the BL site directly. The manuals and specs are available for comparison between the two models. They don't show the manual for #1machine on the site at this time. It might be a discontinued model.

There is probably some upgrade to the newer model.

You can also download the manuals and guides for later reference.

Do you have a local dealer? I can check with mine next week and send you a PM.

Thanks Rhonda...It was the Tiara 1 that I was most interested in. I appreciate the suggestions. I will try to Google a manual for Tiara1.

Watson

Hey Watson, the Tiara quilters are essentially the Sweet Sixteen machines made by Handiquilter and rebadged by Babylock. If you can’t find info on the Tiara 1 check when it was made and then look at Sweet Sixteens of the same age to get an idea of specs.

The ones I tried were identical to the Sweet Sixteen. The older Handiquilters and probably the Tiara 1 had a foot that was cumbersome to swap out. You can get an upgrade kit that makes changing the feet easy, and if you want to use any of the specialty feet, like the couching foot, thicker ruler foot, echo feet, etc. you will need to install the upgrade.The original owner of my machine had the upgraded foot system installed which I find very useful. I can fairly quickly switch from thick ruler foot to open toe foot, to couching feet etc. whenever I want to. I assume that you can also get the Tiara 1 foot system upgraded if the original owner hasn’t done so. I think it was $100 US for the HQ upgrade kit (maybe a little more).

The original Tiara sat a little higher in the table than the later models do which meant that you had to add an overlay for rule work to prevent your ruler from being a little tippy. The older Sweet Sixteens also had this problemas well. Mine came with the overlay but I still needed to put a small shim under the overlay on one side to make sure my rulers were perfectly flat when doing ruler work

the later models of Sweet Sixteen and probably the Tiara 3 (maybe 2) now have a digital readout on the screen for the top tension, on the Handiquilters there is an add on for older models that upgrades the tension. It sits above the screen. i would imagine there is a similar upgrade for the Tiara 1 (or it may be able to use the HQ add on). The newer Sweet Sixteens also have a basting feature that is not on the older ones- mine doesnkt have this feature and I”m not sure what the advantage would be since it I donkt see how it would completely take the place of spray or pin basting a larger quilt.

I think the newer HQ also have a timer that you can set to tell you how long youkve been quilting, or perhaps to remind you to stop at a certain time+ mine doesn’t have that, but if I needed to I’d use the timer on my smart phone.

thatks all the upgrades I can think of off the top of my head. If you can’t get the info from BAbylock give Handiquilter a call, they can probably tell you how the Tiara 1differed from the later models.

Rob

Thanks, Rob! Great info.

Watson

Watson ... I think Rob has given you a good rundown.
I totally forget what the upgrades added on, but I know when I saw the 2nd listing, there were some features that definitely I thought were better than the original (that I have). Likewise, the 3rd. Of course, all in perspective, based on $$ ... and whether you are looking at used or new.

Don't hesitate to call Handiquilter and ask them all you questions! When I was shopping, I found that a lot of the dealers really did not have the answers (aka did not know their product!), so I called through to HQ, explained my situation and they were wonderful, with all the time in the day for me.




RRyder ... some people still don't seem to like the idea of spray basting, you and me not being in that crowd! :) However, I can see it would be an asset if that were the case. Though, there may be times that one might want to machine baste .... not really sure right now when, other than to eliminate pins. But that'd be double work, first pinning and then basting. I guess the upside is, that you could baste the heck out of it, and if it got bunched you could remove and start again.