I had my expire for 2 1/2 years, just traded mine in. I agree offer 500 and see what happens, or ask him to throw in some extras. Either way I loved my Babylock while I had her but it was time to upgrade to a new brother. It's seams the Babylock dealer has more to offer and the best service so I would definitely go with them what ever you choose

For what it's worth-Brother makes Babylock. I have one of each. I have the BL Ellure plus which I bought used for about the price you were quoted. I would go for the place that will offer classes. I've learned so much about the embroidery part that I never would have tried. My store doesn't charge for classes taught by their staff to anyone who bought their machine from them (used or new)

I know a lot of people look for the Singer 301's for quilting. They have a longer throat and are work horses. I've been considering getting one although I have issues threading things lately... aging eyes even with reading glasses on....
You can usually get one of those for about $100 in a cabinet. Granted, I've seen a lot of people asking a lot more for them but you might be able to find one at a yard sale or second hand store for less.

I don't know if you bought your machine yet. I have the Babylock Ellure Plus and love it. The stitching is beautiful and the embroidery is so very easy to use. Plus you can download lots of free designs off the internet.

Hi
I have a Babylock Ellure, I've had it for almost six years and I have had no problems with it and it does everything I want to do.....mostly I do quilts. It's fun to be able to embroider on towels or make a quilt label.
I also have two other Babylocks and love them, too! Both are bigger ones than my Ellure. I take my Ellure to my lake place for the summer and I haul it to classes or camps, it's a great machine.

I am pretty sure you'd love it!

Bev

Why don't you go ahead and make the gown on your machine that you have, and relax and hunt a new one later. They will show up at sometime. There are always used ones coming on the market.

Hi Jan,

I had a Babylock Essante embroidery/sewing machine for which I paid $800.00 used from a dealer in Kannapolis, NC. Loved that machine to death and downloaded over a thousand embrodiery patterns from the internet. It sewed as well as it embroidered. If you ever need to clean it, only worry about the area around your bobbin and feed dogs. Anything else let the repairman do. I made the mistake of trying to take mine apart (as I do on my vintage machines) and messed up the circuit board. These are computerized machines and they don't like to be messed with by an inexperience repair person (me.) I learned my lesson the hard way because it was going to cost over $400.00 to replace the computer part I messed up. If you do purchase the babylock, I have the Babylock PES Transfer System (called Pallette pts.) This is used to download patterns from internet onto a card that you then insert into the embroidery machine. I paid $100.00 but would gladly sell it to you for $50.00. Just pm me if you are interested. Good luck in your search.

I have an Ellure. I purchased it about 7 years ago. I love it. It was in my car when I had a rollover accident. Had it checked out afterward and there was no damage done to it. It works beautifully. Does the $700 also include the card system and software? If it does it might be worth the $700.