Maybe buying a Husqvarna Embriodery Designer 1- need lots of advice!
 

I had a babylock ellure plus, I was just learning to sew and do embriodery- well long story short I got fustrated trying to download cute online designs to the machine, had my 5th child who has a heart condition and was just too busy to mess with it so I sold it.
I have a little more time on my hands and really want to get back into it. I want a good machine, within a reasonable budget. I found this Husky Designer one on Craigslist- it has recently been looked over at a shop and is in good working order. It does not have a usb- just works on floppys- I did see that they make floppy drives you can connect to a usb to download things from the computer.
Is this machine too dated? Would I be better off with a lower quality machine new like a Brother- can you suggest machines for someone who wants to stay at or under $1000- that sews and does a great job with embriodery- that will last- and has large hoops?
This machine was originally $1000 and I got him down to $700- it includes the case some floppys, and is in good shape.
I would appreciate any advice and reccomendations on machines in my budget!!

I started with D1 and upgraded to Diamond a few years ago. My friend has D1 and we sew together often.

You can download designs right to your computer (I don't recommend it, but you can) or a usb stick or cd. Then using an external floppy drive (or built in to puter if you have it) you can transfer the design or designs onto a floppy to insert into the D1.

You can download multiple designs onto the floppy (as opposed to one at a time) if you have the right software (3d 4d 5d) and I am sure others will work. You would need some software to view the designs anyway.
I found it tedious to only be able to put 1 design at a time on floppy, so I researched until I developed a way to do up to 20 or so and that would keep me busy. That way you only need to save designs on a usb (for permanent storage) and then copy them to floppy when you want to use them. You only need 6 or so floppies then, because you aren't using them for storage and you can reload them anytime.

I think that is a good deal, make sure you have 4x4 5x7 and mega hoop if you can get more, even better, and a good selection of feet. I would say it is a great deal as the D1 was a top of the line machine when it was new. Parts are still available, so if it hasn't been mistreated, go for it!

I wouldn't recommend this machine as it is really hard to get the floppy disks. I had one and upgraded to the Designer SE with usb. Just my opinion.

Floppy disks are availabe at Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, and usually a friend has squirreled away some and no longer uses them. You can rewrite them hundreds of time, so 1 or 2 could suffice, but I would go with 6 or more to be on the safe side. I help my friend 2 or 3 times a week to use her machine (she isn't real comfortable with it yet) and I can load designs and be ME'ing in minutes. No longer than my usb stick, and money counts! Better quality machine for less money or cheaper model for same money?? I would not pass it up, you can always sell it or trade to upgrade later. It does almost everythng my Diamond does for lots less $$.

I had this machine and it is not user friendly....Best thing I ever did was sell it and go with Brother and Baby Locke for embroidery and all my sewing needs

The person selling it - it was her mothers- here is a link to it- so I would need to get the floppy converter thing for my computer and floppys, and a software program- does anyone reccomend a software program and does any one know the floppy size is? Here is a link to the listing - he lowered to 850 but is willing to do 700..

What did you find not user friendly about the machine?

opps here is the link
http://norfolk.craigslist.org/art/3649492509.html

I bought this machine 9 years ago for $6000 and a husky serger was also included. I went to all the classes as the embroidery part is rather difficult to self teach from the manual. When they had a 30%sale I also bought the digitizing programs ( a total waste of money) and most of the hoops.The floppies are definately yesterday's technology and the kid at the computer store thought it was hysterical when we wanted this capability when we "built" our computer. At first I embroidered everything that stood still but that got old fast. While still under warranty a gear in the embrioidery unit came off and ruined my friend's new bouse on which I was embroidering. After I bought my Janome 6500 with the larger sewing bed I find that I only use this machine for embroidery. I bought the quilting embroiderery hoop and use it for quilting my children's charity quilts. I had to pay $35 to have my unit modified to accomodate this hoop. I definately underuse this machine. If I were you I would insist on proof that this machine had been checked out by a reputable serviceman and I would put it through it's paces before purchase. I think the $700 is a reasonable price.

My mother has this machine and L O V E S it. She says it does a better 1/4" stitch than her Brother and she thinks it's a great machine. I would jump on it for that price!

Hi, I had the designer 1 and sold it last year as it really is quite dated. That said it sewed and embroidered beautifully.

There are lots of designs on the Internet that can be downloaded either free or you pay for them. All designs will need to be either Hus files or I think you can now also use VIP (each machine reads its own special files and won't sew out any other. Brother machines will only read Pes)

So you have the machine, then you will need a reader/writer for the floppy discs and some special software to get the design to be read by your machine.This will be the 3D or 4D software. Without this you are unlikely to be able to get the machine to sewing machine to read the floppy disc.

I am not sure if you can by pass the last by using Embird software to write directly to the machine.
There is a yahoo Husqvarna D1 group that might be able to answer that question.

In my honest opinion think really hard what you want to do with the embroidery side of things. If you don't want to embroider bigger than 8 x 6 there are some good brother embroidery only machine around that are faster, like the 750e it uses USB s to transfer designs but you will still need software and that can be pricey.

Hope this helps.....

I have two viking embroidery machines that i would like to sell. One is the Viking #1 and the other is the Designer SE both with lots more that what the ad offers. i really want to upgrade to a 10 needle machine so if interested send me a pm and i will give you all the details.

I wouldn't get anything can't use USB. Also for a large hoop combo will probably be more than 1000. You can get a brother pe700 embroidery only that does 5x7 for 600 and then buy a reasonable priced machine like a pc-420 for sewing but you are probably looking at close to 2000 for a brother combo and for 6x10 brother closer to 3000. The combos under1000 only have a 4x4 hoop

Husqvarna Viking sewing machines are nice machines. I have and do own many Viking machines. However, my vote is to stay away from this purchase. Not sure how much a used Husqvarna Viking Designer SEis going for these days....but I own one and absolutely love it. I believe it will do all the embroidery you would want to do.

even though there is some availability to floppy disk technology....not sure how much longer it would be available.

my thoughts are that if you get older technology there will be a certain amount of frustration and challenges that will take away from your sewing enjoyment.

well that is my two cents worth

The Viking dealer in my town is selling used Designer I's for $1000-$12000. I have two of them, I bought 8 years ago. I do not have the embroidery module for the second one. A good Viking dealer can change the floppy drive to usb in the machine for you. I am happy with the floppy drive. I have a decent supply of new discs. I have the complete

I have my Designer 1 from 2000 and a SE........I still like my Des 1. I think the price is right if it does the emb. A d if not you would be getting a good machine with lots of stitches for little money. One problem to consider is the software, I have 4-D and when my computer crashed this winter I had trouble finding compatible operating system with my software. Also I think it is imperative that you sew with others, for support. Perhaps a dealer in your area would offer at. Reasonable price classes to learn to use it. Calla

I had to buy floppy disks too. I was able to purchase them at Staples.
http://www.staples.com/Floppy+disks/...4&pn=1&sr=true

I have a designer 1. I've had it for quite some time and I still love it. I don't do embroidery on it much anymore. There is a learning curve to it, but once you get it down your good to go. You can still get floppies. Check online or go to an office store. I have thousands of embroidery designs already so I don't even look for new ones. It is not a bad machine at all. I've only had one thing go wrong with mine and that is the backstitch button wore out and I had to have it replaced. This machine has been owned by my mom and myself from when it was new so I know everything that happened to it. The price seems fair for what I can see of them going for. I would go for it. :)

Consider a Bernina before making a decision. I have an Artista 640 and just added the embroidery module to it. Can't wait to start classes. I have never been disappointed in my Bernina products.

Amazon is an excellent source for "old technology" such as floppy disks, PC cards, etc. not to worry. Ebay too.

Sandy

I started with the D1 and later bought my daughter a D1 that she is still using...I loved it and wish I had kept it for a 2nd machine. I have the Diamond now. I Still use Embird as my program to resize and combined and transfer, a nice program for the price. You should ask how old the machine is and if they are the original owner. Are they giving you any floppys or designs with it? I don't think most computers have a floppy drive on them any more so you would have to get one. It looks like a nice machine. These were the top of the line machines at one time. I bought my first one on Ebay for 3500. You can check out ebay and see what they are selling for.

I worked for Viking for a while. The D1 is an Excellent machine. The fact that the designs are on floppy should not be a deterrent. Because the format of the floppy is a propitiatory format as is the file extension of the designs, you do need a program to write to the floppy (you can not just drag and drop). There are several programs out there that do that now. Of course 4D/5D will do it (both Viking and Pfaff versions) there is/was a " 3D Organizer" program which came with the machine that would do it. That program however does not run on the newer operating systems (to my best knowledge) but 5D organizer will as well which is available. There are as well as a handful of other programs. There were a couple of threads recently right here on this topic with several possible solutions.

IMHO - what ever you do - if you purchase the machine - do not in any way let a Viking dealer talk you into the USB upgrade. Because the software to "run" the USB is actually "loaded" right on the the usb stick and it must run first and the transfer of files and take much longer. The floppys are still available and work just fine. When I worked - we had many clients who had wished that they had never done the upgrade.

If it is a good price, you like it and it is within your budget - it is a great machine and should service you for a long time.

It is a good machine. Many have said you need a newer version of software to use the floppies. Well, right now Viking has a great deal for anyone with "any" software. You can get a trade-in allowance of 350 toward new software. The software doesn't have to be Viking like the 3D or 4D, it can be any.

I have two Viking Embroidery machines and the only one I would recommend is the SE. It is an old machine but it is the best machine I have ever had. Even the women who work at the Viking site agree that the SE is the best of the machines.

I'd not get it at all--even for very cheap (much cheaper than $700). It is old technology and we aren't going back there. Keep looking for another used embroidery machine--but newer. You'll find it.

If you are willing to spend $700, just check ebay. You can get more modern machines for that much money with USB capabilities.

I just bought my 3rd Husqvarna Viking machine the other day and I love it. So far anyway. The new one is the #1+ and it is pretty amazing. I got it super cheap, only 120.00. The only problem is the embroidery unit is missing. I am wondering if I should keep an eye out for one, or just use it as is. It came with 4 of the cassettes so it has a bazillion stitches. I know that the technology is outdated, and I would love to have a more modern embroidery machine. Maybe someday. If anyone has an idea how to find the embroidery unit, please let me know. I have searched a bit online and not been successful.