Bernina 830 with over 8 million stitches stitched
 

My dealer has a Bernina 830 with a registration date of Dec 2012 and more than 8 million stitches counted on it. Since its had so much use, I am assuming this was a reliable 830 and not one with all the problems I've read so much about. Used by someone who taught classes at this dealership and she was very into embroidering. Price is $3200. But over 8 million stitches scares me. What do you think?

I don't really know. That's a fraction of the price of a new one, but that's also a lot of stitches on it already.

Now I'm wondering how many stitches mine has on it. . . .

I bought my second Brother embroidery machine from a demonstrator in 2004. It has served me well, though I only use it for normal sewing as I have a couple of later model machines for embroidery. The stitch count works out about 27,000 per week, and given that many designs have 5 - 10,000 stitches and the machine is 5 yrs old, that's not bad.
Is the dealer or seller prepared to give you a decent guarantee and take responsibility if it turns out to be a lemon?, if so it should be a good deal, and I would insist on some free lessons as well. At least the dealer should know if there were any issues with it. Good luck

5-10,000 stitches per design is small designs. Some of the designs I stitch out are upwards of 80,000 stitches, so 8 million stitches on a machine that does embroidery is not an overly large number. The machine is obviously one that has been taken care of so I say go for it.

Cari

Hearing about stitch count makes me feel better. I bought a demo machine that had about 350,000 stitches on it. So that could have only been a handful of designs, and not much use at all.

That is a very good price. My friend paid $7,000 for a no embroidery 830 that same year.

It is, Onebyone. I was thinking about this last night and I guess it's like buying a used car. You have to figure how much repair you can do (if necessary) for the amount you saved by not buying new. It's a gamble you have to be willing to take. You might have some repairs or none at all. Depending on what kind of warranty you get from the dealer it could be a steal.

I put a lot of stitches on my machines. My machines are straight stitch only and I sew at least six days a week 4-5 hours each day. My machines new were only a fraction of that.
If you think it is a good deal for you, then I say go for it.

Someone I knew once compared it to a used car. He said why should I buy someone else's headache. I personally would be a bit scared, however, I know nothing about their durability.

The Brother machine I bought new last October has over 3 million stitches. I consider the machine new still.