New Bernina
 

I am sewing on an old Bernina and Love her. Thinking about getting a new one to gain a bigger harp. Interested in a machine that also does embroidery, What are your pros and cons on the 500, 700 or 800 series? It is a costly purchase and I want to be sure. Thank you for your thoughts!

I was given a modern (computerized) Bernina 820 and have found out quite a bit about them. The 830 is the same machine with an embroidery unit. The original owner was a previous Bernina fan but just didn't click with this machine. When she made the decision to return it, it was just long enough that the dealer only offered her less than half the value, which on an approximately $10k machine wasn't good enough. My friend offered to buy it (with the stand!) for half price and sewed on it for about 3-5 years.

Again, she didn't like it much even being another Bernina fan. She felt it was fussy with threads (recommends using Aurifil with the 820), and got herself a 770 with which she is ecstatic! She has a different brand of embroidery machines that has unique images she prefers even though they aren't Bernina. Going prices for the used 820s seems to be around 3k across the country, but she gave me the machine last time I came down to visit. Cost us about $200 to buy a box and ship it from Arizona to Seattle.

One thing to know about the 820/830, it has a proprietary sized bobbin that isn't L, M, or 15 and which means you can't buy prewound bobbin spools. We are all different and I became a fan of prewound spools with a long-arm machine because that machine couldn't wind a decent spool to save our lives! If I was doing embroidery, I'd personally want a big box of full prewound bobbins to just pop in and out. The bobbin winder is easy and fast with the 820, the bobbin is good, I'm just lazy and bobbins are expensive.

I used it hard for about a year, daily use doing piecing and quilting both and it did great. And then one night everything was fine, I turned off the machine and came back in the morning to finish putting on the last side of binding and it won't work. Or it will, about 1-2", 8-15 stitches (varies) and then a message light comes on. I can click the light and stitch another inch, everything is lovely stitch-wise, but then I get another failure. I'm pretty sure that it is going to cost me about $300 for a servicing and a thread removal, which is a price I'd normally look at buying a new machine at. But no new machines with that huge deep throat, the good lighting, the self threader, the BSR (bernina stich regulator) and built in walking foot.

Anyway, reviews and consumer reaction about the 820/830 was not good. Bernina did not admit a lemon but pulled it out of the line up very rapidly for a model number. It was a mistake to reuse the old model number (for those who say they love their Bernina 800 series, that's mostly the old solid workhorse and not the new model). I've sewn most of the last 30 years on a vintage machine older than I am after my then top-of-the-line (last one with cams, just before computerized) broke and was unrepairable. So I'm used to doing my own maintenance and tune ups, but I was determined to make the most of this fancy new machine and quickly grew to love the knee lift for foot up/down (my friend never used that feature), being able to tap on the foot pedal for needle up/down, or be able to use buttons. I have vision issues and have troubles reading the buttons but I've learned where the only one I really want is (cut thread).

Personally I think they had lemons/badly manufactured combined with badly designed machines and they had some that turned out ok or even great -- I'm putting mine in the ok category.

For under 3k and with a service contract or at least a one year warranty, I'd certainly consider it again. But I'd read easily found bad reviews first.

I started out with a Bernina 750QE and traded up to a 880 within two years. I upgraded to the Plus option a few months ago. I've never looked back. I have two complaints about it: the stitch plate has a brushed look to it and it's very hard to see the 1/4" mark and the touch screen is so sensitive that when fabric brushes it, I find settings changed. Other than that I love this machine. As I grow, it does what I need and want. Embroidery is beautiful. The harp space is big enough for me to quilt a queen sized quilt. Service on my machine runs less than 100.00. I've never had an issue that wasn't caused by user stupidity. I will say that the manual is less than stellar. YouTube has been my friend.
Now, I will confess to being a tech junkie and the Babylock Solaris and Brother Luminaire fascinate me, and I'd love to get my hands on one to try it out and see how it compares. But the cost........

I got a 570 last spring.....and I am liking it.....I did have a bit of problem at first with occasional thread jams.....the tech did finally fix it after I took photos with my phone of the problems I was having and even left the mess when it messed up while piecing....he said he probably would not have found the problem if I had not showed him the pictures and left the mess under the needle...he said the timing was ever so slightly off and that is why the problem was just random....I have done piecing mainly on it and found it is a bit trickier to stitch triangle pieces together with this machine as has 9 mm feed dogs rather than the 5.5mm feed dogs my old one had....I don't like the 1/4 inch foot that came with it as the right feed dog is off the fabric...however....piecing squares is fine with it....I also got a straight stitch plate and that helps as does using the dual feed but I had to get a new 1/4 inch foot to use that.....I like the needle up/down and "hover" function that you can set three different ways.....it does allow for a lot in the set-up program so you can set your machine up to automatic know, lift needle up or leave down, cut the thread...etc....I am still learning about it...it is not a machine you can just sit down at and take off....but it is sweet once you learn how to use it! I got the 5 series because I have a long arm and did not need the huge space.....it also does the embroidery....but you can't do the big sized stuff you can do with the 700 series...

I traded in my 820 to get the Tula Pink 770. It has the embroidery feature. My 820 did have some extra features. But I’ve been enjoying the 770 even though it’s a touch smaller and has a smaller screen. The 820 had some bobbin issues. I got to the point where I couldn’t do FMQ on it because the bobbin would randomly act up and make a nest on the back. I also got the Q20 several years ago for quilting - I LOVE that machine.

I bought the 770QE last Spring and love it!!
I opted not to get the embroidery module but if I ever change my mind I can add it.
I love everything about this machine. For the price I feel it's worth every penny.
I still have my 150QE and will never part with it.
Maybe it's just me but I'm used to using a Bernina so the new one wasn't as much of a learning
curve as I anticipated, even though it has a lot more than my 150.
Youtube and We All Sew have great tutorials as well.
Whatever you decide good luck!

I have sewn on the 550qe and the 765 for an entire day on each. For me i have not been impressed by them for what they cost i think there are better machines out there with more features and more user friendly. I have used quite a few brands of high ends out there and the only bernina i would shell out dollars for is the q20 imho. I am definitely a brother gal. I would try as many machines as you can before making your decision because i have heard the newer ones dont compare to the older models

Rhodim, I did a lot of research before the purchase of my 770QE two years ago...I love my machine and have no regrets about spending the money on a hobby I love. Good luck in your research and decision making.

I upgraded my Bernina 880 to a Plus and love it even more. I also really like using the Bernina Embroidery Software on my laptop as a companion to it. I can do all kinds of adjustments to designs, create labels and other things. Then the software will “write” it to a thumb drive for my machine. It was quite an additional expense. But it is a very comprehensive program. You would want to take classes on using it. The pinpoint placement method And the Jumbo hoop are exceptional. Especially if you want to do a Claudia Dinelle wall hanging. I am finishing her A Child is Born”. A 55” nativity project. And I am signed up for the 2 day class to do “The Potting Shed” in June. If you have a good dealer you won’t regret the 880 Plus.

Bought my new 770QE just before Thanksgiving! Waited until I got my sewing room done. Now I am slightly intimidated by it!
I originally started with a Singer then on to a Brother. I've been hand quilting for so many years and afraid to plug in the new machine. Any suggestions on a friendly start up? I'm 2 hours from where I bought it for a class.

Umm... the new Bernina's have so many features that they are hard to use right out of the box. I do suggest you take the new owner's classes if you can. They may offer it on zoom. Anyway. If you go to Bernina.com and click on the "learn $ create" tab at the top, then scroll down a bit, you will find the "Mastery Workbooks" Click on that, there are separate ones for sewing, embroidery, and accessories. These will provide a lot of info as you work through them. Also, I have done a bit of googling for "Bernina 590 YouTube (I have a 590) and found some very helpful ones out there. For example, my bobbin got stuck in my bobbin case the other day, so I googled "how to do I get a bobbin out of my bobbin case when it is stuck" and found a wonderful you tube on it. The guy is known as "Bernina Jeff" and he has a lot of amazing YouTube on Bernina's. Another helpful site I have found is "Bernina of Naperville" She has a lot of helpful ones too and also some more advanced online classes. I initially had a new Bernina 570 but after several trips for service, I traded her back in for a Bernina 590 which so far has been trouble free. I think the 570 I had was truly a lemon. I have owned a Bernina 440, and a 630 before and they were good machines for me. The higher end Bernina's, however, do require so learning how to use as there are so many ways you can set them up to do what you want. I was fairly frustrated at first but as I learned how to operate my machine, I am really enjoying it now. It is sort of like getting a high end I-phone after using a simple flip phone or getting a new bells and whistles car after driving a basic 12-year-old car for a while. Yep, they can be frustrating. But I love the features on my newer car too.

Jlowilliams -- Your machine probably came with a disk in the manuals, mine had videos based on the manual chapters which were also on line. I have vision issues and a hard time with the manual, but the videos and voice overs were fine.

This is Bernina, but there are many very useful videos by instructors and shop owners and heavy users.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaP0wfAMdS8

The way I work, I knew I could use my fancy machine basically the same as I could my vintage machine but I wanted to take advantage of the many things it had available. So I started trying out things and learning just by want I want to know. I will probably never know how to make a buttonhole on my current machine :p But I have used the built in Letters and fancy stitches, love having a serpentine stitch, love having the BSR (bernina stitch regulator), love many things.

Mostly I made a series of crib-twin sized quilts each trying to learn something and other things as they came up.

"Cranky Bernie" was in the shop quite a bit, had its repair which was less than feared. And then a year later the repair had to be done again. And two weeks later, that part failed and had to be redone again. Not to jinx myself but we've been working pretty well together for the last couple of months.

First, welcome to the board!
Youtube has wonderful tutorials on all aspects of this machine. I like Bernina Jeff, Robin Curd, many others. With Covid I haven't taken the classes in the shop and these have been a tremendous help to me. Just type in Bernina 770 and a lot of videos will come up.

Bernina 830 LE vs 770 QE
 

I started with a little old Bernina Activa 220 and loved it. Then I decided to upgrade to a used 830 LE. Great harp space for piecing and quilting and I loved the embroidery module. Loved everything when it worked, that is. I had frequent problems with the bobbin, some necessitating trips to the shop. I traded it in for a new 770 QE. Slightly less harp space, smaller screen but... no bobbin problems! It has most of the features the 830 LE had, including the BSR. I would heartily recommend it to anyone who has the will to learn to use a computerized machine.

The Bernina 791 QE is on sale through the end of this month. Price includes cases for machine and EU and I think some other stuff but not sure on that. I have a Bernina 770 that I really like. It could have come with EU but I have a Pfaff that has an even larger hoop than the Bernina so opted out of the EU. The stitch quality on the Bernina for piecing and general sewing is superior to Pfaff now. Pfaff used to be Bernina's top competitor, no longer. Go to BerninaUSA.com and look at the specs on the 790. It has a few more built-in stitches than the 770. Has precise positioning, stitch regulator, foot recognition, and built-in dual feed. It comes with quite a number of feet Bernina has an ankle attachment that allows me to use my Pfaff feet so I'm not having to buy a lot of specialty feet that I already have. Also, Bernina has a "foot of the month" that is 25% off the regular price.

The big question here is why you want the larger harp space. If it is to facilitate the actual quilting (rather than piecing) process, I would suggest you not replace your present, beloved Bernina, but use her only to piece. And then look at what would be your best choice for a dedicated quilting machine....which only needs a straight stitch.

When I went through this process (my main machine is a Bernina 170 I bought used off EBay...love that machine!) I kept my old Bernina 170 as my piecing station and got a Juki 2010Q as my quilting station machine. Eventually I decided to take the leap and bought a used longarm (a Grace Q'Nique 21 setup), but I still use the Juki for smaller projects.

When I was pondering replacing the Bernina with a new model with bigger harp space, my machine tech strongly advised I stay away from the larger Berninas. They were not performing well when first introduced and he correctly pointed out the extra harp space was not a big improvement over what I already had. And the big Bernina's are crazy costly. The Juki was really affordable, a great machine.

You could also consider a sit down machine like the Q'Nique 15, an attractive option if your free motion skills are good and you don't want to swap over to the longarm and its different skill set. I think Leah Day has some YouTube videos on her experience with that kind of setup?