I got my Pfaff 1473 CD in 1990 and it's still the one I use everyday. Love the "snail" option of sewing when showing my 9 yr old granddaughter what to do. Serviced maybe 5 times in all this time...had to have the foot pedal worked on this past year. Actually only had to change the light bulb once too and I leave it one by the hours on end.

I was told to never ever ever get rid of this machine as it was one of the last ones built in Germany and is heavy duty in addition to being computerized. This one has one of the first "plotters" so you could design your own layouts to use fancy stitches with which was a real advancement back in the day.

Baby Lock 7 years still great embroidery.. Ellegante

Bernina - 10 years and going strong. Susan

Janome 4800 17 years and still humming. froggyintexas

I purchased my Janome MC4000 in March of 1997. It was a floor model used for demo. The only time I've brought it in to the shop has been for cleaning and a couple of times for a "scare"...it was misbehaving. On one occasion, it was an operator mistake (needle inserted wrong ////blush////). The other time was when I machine quilted a quilt with high loft batting and had pulled the thickness along. I don't know the technical terms but my repairman made adjustments and I was on my way.

Lately I've noticed that there is a little tension problem that appears with certain threads. Haven't had that problem before. I use whatever threads I have in my leftovers. Newer threads seem to be "less substantial" than the older threads and I actually prefer them. I think I will "invest" in some of the threads that have been discussed on this board to see if I'll get better performance out my old baby.

My Bernina is 11 years old and still going. Before that I had a Singer that lasted 26 years. Very fortunate.

I have a Bernina 1630 and she is my best machine - going strong for 20 years since 1995. I love this machine - it does everything!

Ok, you asked.. so here goes.

Started with a Viking 1+ and then I bought a Rose, both were doing fine with I traded or sold them after 5 years so that I could upgrade to a larger embroider area. Bought a used Designer 1 and had nothing but problems with it, so I bought a used Brother Disney machine and the computer portion just quit after 3 years. To expensive to replace so I bought a NEW Brother ULT Embroidery machine. After 4 years, the mother board cracked and instead of just replacing it, I traded it in on my Brother Quilt Club 1000 and I have had that one for a long time now. When the others gave out, I was teaching embroidery, so the machines were going and going and going... I also have a Brother Cs1000i, their entry level computerized machine and it is a work horse. Weighs 9 pounds and has traveled with me on air plains and hasn't give me any issues in about 15 years.

Here is what I think the issue is, its not how old the machine is, it is how much does it get used. Mine failed because of the amount of use I gave them, on the other hand, my Quilt Club is a "sewing" machine only and doesn't do embroidery, their TOL machine at the time with all the bells and whistles, and she still purrs like a kitten.

The more they put on them, the more there is to fail.....

I have a Memory CrafT 6000, 30 YEARS, I just used it last night ,has all the bells and whistles to make a label, it has two (2) Alphabets, print and cursive large and small. Love it Also have a viking 6690 with 4 cassettes that I got used at a thrift shop for 25.00 and sews like a charm I never use magnet anything around them I have about 17 machines and two sergers, and i use these computer ones a lot for writing ,drawing embroidering etc. cmaras1234

My Bernina 185 is 10 years old and works great.