Bernina 830
 

I've heard a variety of comments that Bernina will not be supporting the 830 in the near future and are offering a $5000 trade in. Can anyone shed light on this situation? When is Bernina coming out with a new top end sewing machine?

That's not good. I know many who are still paying on their 830 machine. It's not that old of a machine.

There is the old 830 and the new 830. My friend gave me her new 820 because while she loves Berninas she wasn't clicking with this machine and she replaced it with a 770.

I didn't find anything about discontinuing support, but I did find that there is a special trade-in promotion going on now:
https://www.bernina.com/en-US/Promotions-US

The 820 (the 830 without the embroidery) was not well received and pretty quickly discontinued. Many bad reviews, some of the machines seemed to have more mechanical problems which mine doesn't have. I'm having a great time with it, but I'm not dealing with fancy threads as my friend was.

The new 830 was a learning experiment that flopped. A lot of good came out of it, but the machine needed 20 parts replaced, and they had to turn the hook 30 degrees. They learned how to make the new Bernina jumbo hook, from the experiments done with the 830. I've heard you can buy an 830 for about $2,500 on ebay. But they really can't compare to the 740, 770 and 790, which is a much better machine. The 880 is pretty good, but is so over-engineered, you've got to have a degree in physics to run the thing. The 8 Series bobbin is smaller than the jumbo bobbin in the 7 Series. Where I work, we sold 3 830s and it was a disaster. If you came into my store, I wouldn't sell you an 8 Series machine. We've had customers from other stores asking if we can fix the 830, and they've already been back to Bernina and they couldn't/wouldn't fix them. So there's a kind of re-call on them. I'd take a 790 over an 880 any day!

When I got a 770, the dealer wouldn't even take a trade in on the 830. Yes, I think they were a disaster and Bernina took a hit in reputation with that lemon. There's laws on car lemons. But $5000 doesn't sound like they stand behind they're product.

Quilted Sunshine ... and All Others ....
Knowing that the 820 and 830 were sister machines, were the faults totally with the 830?
Or is the 820 as much of a problem child?

Yes, I have an 820.
Love the larger 820 bobbin, but OMG an even larger one with a 770 ... can't help but love that!

Do the 7-series use the same feet as the 820?

I still have my old 830 Record from 1974. It's an awesome, reliable, all mechanical machine. I was surprised when they gave the same number/name to a newer model! I love my old Bernina but gave up on the newer ones when they became insanely expensive and complicated. Plus... they are ugly. Sorry to hear the new 830s were lemons.

Never could understand why Bernina would give the same numbers to a newer line of machines - seemed like a recipe for confusion.

I have an 880 and love it so much I went ahead and upgraded it to a Plus. I also have the embroidery module for it. Don’t understand the antipathy toward it.

So far as I understand, the Bernina once again did not use interchangeable feet. My friend had to get new feet for the 770 she bought and gave me all the 820 feet with the machine.

I too have the first 830 and wondered why they gave that number to a new machine. I figured since the first 830 was such a good machine that that number was a marketing ploy. Just guessing. Even the repair people have told me that the first 830 was the best they had. That I should keep it!
Lynda

one of my quilting buddies has a 1974 830 and says it's the best machine she's ever used.

Thanks for the update ...

My friend bought a new 830. She had it in the shop more then she used it. It took weeks to get the new sensors and parts needed each time. She wanted a new one to replace it but was told the parts could be replaced so no new machine. She took a loss selling it before the warranty ran out. You couldn't melt and pour her in a Bernina shop now and her experience stopped many guild members from buying Bernina. The dealer should have given her a new one and would have gotten many more buyers. Guild members stick together. One is burned, they all back off.

Oh she did contact Bernina Headquarters. Always got the same response. Go to dealer.

I bought the 770 in May and it's a fantastic machine. I replaced my 150QE which I kept as it's a wonderful machine too.
But reading this thread makes me glad I didn't get an 800 series.

I just traded my 830 for a 790plus. I bought the 830 used and only paid $3000 for it. It included the big hoop and lots of extras. I hated the way it threaded and the bobbin loading. They gave me a $4000 trade in value and all I had to turn in was the machine and the embroidery unit. My dealer wanted the Bsr and since you get a new one it did not matter to me. I got to keep all the hoops, feet and other accessories which does work on the new machine. I really did not wan tto spend the money, but I felt if the machine had issues I would have to buy another machine at full price. I went with the deal. They had a special for accessories that was in cluded so that was $2800+ in extra accessories. My dealer showed me all about the new machine and it was so fantastic. Such an improvement in my old 200 and the 830. They fixed the threading issue and the bobbin issues. I should have it next week and I cannot wait. I was just glad I had the money to make the trade. They did offer financing interest free with payments of $151.00 per month. The 830's were 10 to 12 years ago so it all seemed a positive trade for me. I had not had any issues with the 830 and had no idea if the old owner had issues.