Help - advice on which longarm machine
 

Looking for insight from those who have owned longarm machines.

I am a complete newbie when it comes to a longarm.

I think that I’ve narrowed the choice down to either the HandiQuilter Amara or the Grace Q’Nique 21X Elite.

Has anyone owned either and could share your experience with the machine or company?

A bit of history - I attended Houston International Quilt Festival recently. Took two classes on stationary longarm machines. One on a HandiQuilter Amara and the other on a Bernina Q20 ST.

this was my first experience on a longarm. All other experience has been quilting on my domestic machine.

spent some time on the show floor playing with a Grace Q’Nique 21X Elite.

also played for a few minutes on a few others.


while I would probably love the Bernina Q20 it’s far more expensive than the others I will not be getting the computer assisted quilting at this time but it is something I may want to add in the future.

I am not quilting for business. I am only looking to quilt quits for my family and possibly donating.


I think I’ve narrowed it down to a HandiQuilter Amara 20 or a Grace Q’Nique 21X Elite.

I don’t think either company has a dealer within 30 minutes of us There are two HandiQuilter dealers 60 minutes and 90 minutes from us A Juki dealer 3 hours from us


talking with the Grace rep at the festival, it seems all of their maintenance is easily done by the owner and it does not need to be taken in yearly for maintenance. Also seems that it can be set up by the owner.

the HandiQuilter rep implied their machines should be taken in once a year for cleaning / maintenance or pay to have a local dealer come out to your home to service the machine and that setting one up is dideoxycytidine and they highly recommend having a rep set it up.

a Bernina rep mentioned that some of their maintenance and repairs can be done by the owner where she stated some other companies that is not the case. She mentioned some companies you void the warranty if you do much of anything yourself. I do not mind doing my own maintenance or replacing any parts if necessary.

the Grace rep has given us a good package deal which would include some extras saving a decent bit above the HandiQuilter but how do the machines compare when it comes to durability, how do the companies compare in customer service, etc…

Has anyone used or owned either a Grace or a HandiQuilter? - feedback? like it - hate it - what would you do different?

would love to hear any experience or input anyone has to offer

I don't have experience with long arms, but I have a lot of machine experience. You can probably do the maintenance yourself. My bigger concern would be if you had problems with the machine. Would you be able to fix it or have someone come to the house to do it for you?

Tried to edit my post above but the time frame elapsed The Bernina Q20 was quite a bit more smooth than the HandiQuilter or Grace Q’Nique but the price point is also nearly double. Since I’m only planning to quilt my own quilts I can’t justify spending double without a good reason.

The HandiQuilter seemed to vibrate less than the Grace Q’Nique.

Another note - I will not be getting the computer assisted quilting at this time but it may be something I want to add in the future.

To upgrade later to the computer system the Grace is approximately half the cost of the adding a computerized system to the HandiQuilter.

Sigh. Those reps.

I applaud your wisdom in seeking out opinions of those who actually own and use the machines. Their opinions will be less biased. (Notice I didn't say "UNbiased" lol.)

My story:
I have a group of friends who are all longarm owners. We've been meeting monthly for almost 15 years. At first, brand ownership ran the gamut - APQS, Innova, Voyager, Nolting, Gammill, Handiquilter, Tin Lizzie, you name it, someone in the group owned it. The meetings were originally about problem solving and work-arounds. How did you solve this issue, has anyone had troubles with that issue, and so forth. Gradually over the years, almost everyone upgraded to Innova. We have two holdouts - one Gammill and one Handiquilter. Our meetings have also changed from problem solving to show & tell. Nobody has issues with these 3 brands.

When I decided to pull the trigger, here are the factors I used to base my decision on.

• I wanted to be able to service my own machine, because dismantling my frame to take the head off is a p.i.t.a., and so is waiting for a tech to make a house call. (My machine is actually designed for self-service.)
• I wanted 24/7/365 phone support and got it, from both my dealer and from the manufacturer.
• I did not want to buy inexpensive and regret it, and/or having the expense and hassle of upgrading at a later date.
• Word of mouth. As I said, once most of my friends bought Innovas, everyone got happy. That speaks volumes.

One of the smartest things I did before deciding on my longarm was to take a class. I don't think test driving at shows is helpful AT ALL, you just don't get enough experience to make an informed decision. The class was designed to train quilters on how to longarm quilt before renting time on a machine. It was 5 hours long, cost $$$, and was a thousand percent worth it. In the class we learned how to wind a bobbin, how to thread the machine, how to load the quilt on the frame (all options including pinning, zippers, red snappers, etc), how to adjust tension, basic troubleshooting, using rulers, different feet and attachments, etc. We tried out different size heads, which is important from an ergonomic perspective; different frames, which is important from a space-using perspective, and what a setup with robotics entails and can do. We had an excellent instructor who gave us little quilting assignments that had us exploring everything. I found the class made me a well-informed consumer when it came time to "test drive" other brands. I knew what to look for and what to avoid.

IF you want a longarm that you think you might want to add robotics to at some point in the future, make sure you find out the process for doing that. Some brands require you to trade in or purchase different equipment.

To answer your question in short - HQ would be a better choice, in my opinion. Having said that, my friend who owns a HQ says my 26" Innova rides smoother and is lighter than her 18" HQ. Just thoughts to consider.

Know one person who had a hand quilter as did one of her friends. She ended up not using her HQ because of health problems, the friend did use her a lot, then something broke and she had to send it back to be fixed. It took months to get it back and then it broke again, and off it went again. Another friend had a tin lizzie and did use it for years. Then she came up to visit me and spent some time using my APQS Lucey which is a 26 inch. Well, she ended up buying a Lucey and putting a computer on it. She loves the Lucey and is glad she got rid of the Tin Lizzie. Anyway, my Lucey is now 12 years old, I have done a lot of quilts on her and actually have not had any problems with her other than once when I moved the frame with a quilt loaded. Not a good idea, got a few creases in the backing. I have had a few thread breaks mostly at the beginning and now usually don't even have a thread break on most of my quilts. APQS makes these machines in Iowa. They are designed so most repairs if needed can be done by the quilter and have tech support that can walk through anything you need to do. I got mine as a Demo machine. I am totally happy with my machine. It is basic long arm but does have stitch regulation, needle up/down and one manual channel lock. There is leveler bar which I think most good long arms have. I could add the robotics to it if I wanted to but most of my quilts I just do an over-all free hand design as I make utility quilts to be used. APQS usually has demo sales a few times a year. These are machines that were taken to quilt shows. There are seldom used machines for sale on the website but occasionally you man find one. My thought is that my Lucey will continue to run just fine for several more years. The TOP of the line is of course a millennium which has a few more bells and whistles. I have quilt with that machine to but I am totally satisfied with the Lucey. Oh, I did get mine with bliss and a 12 foot table which is really nice. The 10 foot frame I used to have was too small for queen and king sized quilts. Oh, if buy a new one or a demo, they come with a life time warranty for the original owner.

I bought a new HQ Fusion in 2014, my husband and I assembled it with zero issues! So do take that with a grain of salt, remember many businesses are in the business of telling you all sorts of things to make money. I eventually added the robotics in 2017. IMHO, I found the entire business of using ProStitcher a huge PITA! I never had the machine serviced till I sold it in 2020, as I never had any issues and the service was just over 300.00.
I bought a used 32in Innova with Mach3 and the Embroidery software, WOW what a difference! It was like going from a Honda to a Cadillac! Very intuitive to use so glad I decided to buy an Innova, love it! I did have to disassemble the frame when I got it home since I just rolled it into the trailer when I bought it since it was on wheels. It took me 2.5 days to disassemble and reassemble it in my studio, but I did manage to do it myself. Lots of bad words were used, mostly with lifting the machine on, but I have had Claude for 3 years and he's the best!
Don’t forget to look at used machines, mine is used and have never had a issue!
Cindy at Longarm University has listings of used machines.
https://www.longarmuniversity.com/MachinesForSale.html

My son & I have just finished setting up my 12 ft Qnique 19X Elite, ( upgraded from my old Tin Lizzie, which I still love). This weekend we are finishing installing the old QBot robotics, used on the TL, and have found it very simple. I find it lighter to manouver doing feathers and circles - I'm in heaven. Not overly fond of the way the rollers of the Continuum frame are set up, but hopefully we can make some changes there eg : don't like floating the top as it hangs on the floor. I also checked out the Handy Quilting machines, and thought they were louder, but you can't very well tell until it's in your own home. Even normal sewing machines sound different.

I've had a Q'nique21 with QCT Beginnings for 5 years. Only had a problem with it once - timing issue. Grace support was wonderful, and, with their help, my husband was able to reset it. I never use the built in bobbin winder as I read that it often caused problems with the machine. I bought a standalone bobbin winder for it. I bought it because, at/the time, it was half as much as the similar size HQ + Pro-Stitcher.

Before that I had an HQ16, used with PC Quilter computerized system. It was a great machine. My sister has it now and is quite happy with it.

I had the HQ Amara and upgraded to the HQ Forte mainly for the larger throat space. I absolutely love everything about it. I do have Prostitcher as well and am pretty sure I would not like/use it as much without it. I was kind of on the fence about purchasing Prostitcher right away but am so glad I did. For the first month or so I just played around on the machine without Prostitcher and honestly was not that good at it. I started learning Prostitcher and have never looked back. AdamSewFun has some amazing free tutorials on YouTube.

I went to a retreat at HQ in Salt Lake City, UT to learn how to use the machine and I highly recommend doing so if you can afford it. I was very imitated/scared of the machine when I left and I came back confident and capable. Plus it was really cool to see the production floor where the machines are made.

My hubby is quite handy. We set the machines up ourselves. I have a couple of dealers close by and would be able to either have someone come out and clean/fix it or bring it in.

I have not had any problems with mine yet (approx 2 years) so I cannot attest to how good their customer service is.

My best advice would be to get the largest frame you can afford and accommodate in your space. I doubt a quilter has ever said "This long arm is too big for me" (assuming they have the space for it.)

since you’ve owned both a Grace Q’Nique and an HQ would you mind a few questions

1. Do you find the Q’Nique handles vibrate more than the HQ?

2. I can’t find stitches per inch info on the Q’Nique but do recall it being a more narrow range than the HQ which is 4-24 spi. Do you find you need or prefer the higher stitches per inch for stitching small pebbles or intricate quilting.

3. If you don’t mind answering, what made you decide to change from HQ to a Q’Nique?

4. Now that you’ve had some time on both machines, which do you prefer and why?

I'm an Innova owner, so I haven't tried to give advice on Q-'Nique vs HandiQuilter. But I can tell you from experience that machines at shows are not always set up that well. The vibration you felt could just be due to something not being tightened or level.

Just really wanted to add, that you should also consider what the support is for each of your possible choices in your area. True, many of the long arms may have by web or phone support that actually is wonderful, but just be sure to check it out. Also look at what you will have to do if something you cannot fix even with the online support. Do you have to take the machine off the frame and send it somewhere? This will take time, money, and muscle. Do they have folks that can come to you to hopefully fix it? I was looking at a couple of different brands, had gotten down to APQS or Innova. Finally went with APQS basically, because there were a few dealers in the area and because the demo Lucey I finally got was a great price. And...now 12 years later, I believe I hit the jackpot. Because the wonderful Karen McTavish has a shop about 2 miles from my house and she is just a wonderful shop owner and has inspired many to take up long arm quilting. Oh, and I have yet to have a major problem with my machine, she just keeps on stitching, now that I have more experience, the machine just runs.

I would suggest also joining and reading the Facebook groups for both the Amara and for Grace machines to get an idea of what issues people have and how they are handled, both from a user support and from a service perspective. I spent over a year on both and went with the Amara. If I'd had room for an APQS Lenni, though, that was my first choice. I'd tried all 3 plus the Innova Classic (which must not have been setup correctly at the road show, because the handles vibrated so much it made my wrists hurt). The Lenni was the best of the bunch to me - it's frame was just too deep for my space.

I have a Handi Quilter Forte ( 24”), traded in an Avente (18”)for it, both with Pro Stitcher. The only trouble I’ve had with them was caused by operator error. Have used the Help line and they were very good and patience and also have called my dealer. They were great too. The Pro Stitcher Premium is far better than the older versions of Pro Stitcher. I checked about sending it in for maintenance and it is 2 years or 10 million stitches whichever comes first. Mine was way over two years when it had maintenance. My husband loaded it in the car and I dropped it off and picked it up a week later. Cleaning it helps keep it in good shape. I love mine and the best advice is bought as big of longarm as you can. The extra 6 inches on mine made a big difference in the digital patterns I can use. You won’t regret it but make sure you can reach everywhere.

Just wanted to add
This is the time of year when you might be bombarded with great deals...black friday sales have already started in my inbox. If you find a dealer that will work with you, you can negotiate a pretty good deal for yourself.
I bought mine at this time of year, several years ago, and the dealer threw in every advertised extra that I brought to her. She also offered 1 year of classes for free and I joined a monthly group that she sponsored to help newbies like me overcome the initial intimidation that some people feel with a new machine.
We actually became great friends.
Really wish she hadn't moved away....
Here is an example of the ads I'm getting:
https://handiquilter.com/purplefrida...cid=3319ebfcdf

Last question first:

I bought Q'nique 21 and QCT Beginnings because it was half as much as similar throat size of HQ, and Pro-stitcher did not offer tiers like QCT does. If I was going to start a business quilting, I might have made a different choice. But that would make quilting WORK and I am done with WORK!

HQ16 bought used. It was not stitch controlled, but the PC Quilter computerized system I bought with it moved the machine at a steady pace, so it wasn't necessary. For me, size 11 stich worked best. HQ16 was basically a mechanical machine with some computer control. My husband was able to clean and maintain it, thank goodness.

Q'nique 21 - Stitch size - I generally use 10 spi and have beautiful stitching. Size can be adjusted smaller or larger, but not sure of he range. I'll look it up tomorrow. Tension is everything with stitching, no matter which machine you use. My Q'nique and I have worked that out. I replaced the bobbin spring with a Bobbin Genie; it was like a miracle occurred!

Handles: I don't use handles as I have nerve issues in shoulders arms and hands, so moving the quilt for any length of time could become tortuous. That's why I purchased a long arm after quilting one baby quilt on my domestic machine.

I started with a small Pfaff machine on a Grace frame and then upgraded to an HQ Fusion about 7? years ago. Bigger throat space is very important.

You say you aren't planning to go the computerized route, but have you done much free motion quilting with a longarm? It's not as intuitive as you may think or be led to believe by watching experienced longarmers. It takes a ton of practice!

I got my HQ from an amazing dealer who came to my house and set it up and gave us a 2 hour lesson. We then had two FREE all day lessons from them--one on how to load and all the steps involved in quilting an entire quilt and another day of just learning how to use the software. I took my computer savvy dh to that class and for a good while he was better at this than me!

My one caveat is that the ProStitcher software can be frustrating! I quilted this week with the lastest update and it had me swearing and ready to chuck it thru the window. But then my dh came along and had NO issues. Sometimes technology hates me (and I just need to shut down for 10 minutes and let both of us cool off!!)