I'm looking at a new machine myself. I just checked out the Janome 6500 on Sew Vac Direct and boy, what a great price they are offering. That looks like the best machine for the best price without compromise. Unless you are absolutely sure you will use and enjoy the embroidery feature the 6500 looks like the one to me. Good luck and happy hunting!

I currently have the 6600P and have had it far almost a year and love it. I'm also looking at another machine for embroidery. I would love to have the 11000se but DON'T want to trade my 6600 and not sure I can afford to have it and the 11000SE so I'm also looking at the 350E. I also looked at Bernina830 (10,999 on sale)and some others but they are WAAAAYY out of my price range and I don't like the dealer for Viking, they don't seem to care if you are in the store or not so I'm not sure I would get good service if I needed it. I have been reading on the MCEmbroidery group on yahoo and everyone seems to really like Janome, Brother and Bernina but I don't have a brother dealer anywhere close to where I live

Hope you have fun trying them out

You may find reviews on these machines at patternreview.com

Check out the 6600 its best for quilting cause it has the accufeed to pull top and bottom material together to prevent puckering so if your gona be quilting then everyone likes 6600 better :-)

Good idea I will see if she can ty :-)

wow thats waaay more than I want to spend just for home use $11 grand thats alot !!

Are you in love with horizon??? lol
Tell me what you think about it
:?: :?:

If money is not a big issue, then I would get the top of the line to do both sewing, deco stitches and embroidery. I don't think you would ever be sorry.

I hesitate to recommend anything to anyone, but I will tell you this: I have the original 11000 (bought when they were first on the market), not the 11000 Special Edition, although I could upgrade, for a price, to SE if I felt the need. I have really enjoyed my machine. It's had to have the computer tweaked on 2 occasions (different tweaks, but same issue) and I've had to have 2 LED lights replaced, which are expensive, but it sews & embroiders like a dream. (All the original 11000 machines are a bit noisy while they embroider, but don't know about the SE.) I love the fact that the screen moves up so that it is both out of my way and at eye level and I love the fact that I don't have a separate embroidery unit to hook onto the machine.

The 11000 does have the free arm for garment sewing.

I like to look at the expensive dedicated embroidery machines and I'd love to have one, BUT I can only concentrate on one thing at a time, so I either sew or I embroider and never would do both at the same time. As long as my combo. machine keeps sewing well, it's all I need and am grateful to have it.

Bernina!

Janome is just a workhorse machine. I have my original MemoryCraft 5000. I sews and embroideries like a dream. It has NEVER been in the shop. I do my own cleaning and oiling and its at least 15 years old. You can't beat that for a solid machine. My 11000 is dynamite. large embroideries, freearm, upgradable (very important). I made a quilt and embroideries every open square with a design made for that square, thru the top, batting, backing and it came out perfect.

I got a baby lock Ellegante 2 for Christmas and I love it. I had a Brother 2800. You can sure tell the difference between the two. Check out a baby lock.

I myself would go for the 110000. I am waiting for my chance to get that machine. I have a 9000 and a 10000, and love them. You'll be ablel to do it all on that one.

Thanks, I will. I have a Brother CS6000i and I like it a lot but it needs help sewing over just the joins on my piecing. It's not very powerful. I think I heard Janome make the Brother machines, or is it Babylock the make? Anyway, the fact that I should also be looking for an accufeed feature is news and I really appreciate you pointing it out for me. Thanks loads.

What is accu feed???

I have the Horizon and wouldn't trade it for anything. I have the Ellegante 2 for my embroidery machine love the both.

I have the 6500 and love it but am considering trading it in for the Horizon7700. Don't know yet what I'll have to pay over and above.

warm quilt hugs, sue in CA

Try out both machines - make a list of what you like best about each machine - Larger throat is better for quilting.

I have the 6600P and love it for piecing and applique. I have quilted all size quilts on it even a king size with no problem. For the money it can't be beat----I even use the embroidery for my labels----The only down to it is the speed when machine quilting---If your new to free motion quilting it is fine but I got mine after using a Brother 1500, straight stitch and quilting machine so it was a bit of a comedown. I machine quilt my larger quilts on the Brother.
Even with both machines it was cheaper than the other 2 you mentioned. I especially love the stop/start button, which allows me to sew without the pedal--I have fibromyalgia and it is a life saver for sewing when I have pain. Good luck and feel free to PM me if you have questions.

Ok, I've had all the machines you mention. I traded in my 6600 for the Horizon. The 6600 doesn't have a freearm, very annoying. The Acufeed foot is awesome, the 6500 doesn't have it. I also have the 11000SE. That was the first machine I picked up a couple of years ago when I started quilting, because I thought I'd never get the hang of FMQ and wanted the embroidery and/or stippling it offers. Quite frankly I never use the 11000SE and it doesn't have the Acufeed. Also you need to get the Customizer software for sizing the embroidery designs because the 11000SE will only downsize or upsize about 20% on its own. You need to be pretty good with a computer to download updates and transfer to the sewing machine.

I use the Horizon exclusively. The extra throat space is awesome.

I thought I'd be all into the embroidery stuff and bought a whole bunch of CD's with designs on them and just found that I didn't really want to put them on anything. I just wanted to sew.

Oh, and any machine I got had to have an automatic thread cutter. It's like living without a garbage disposal. Just have to have it.

Just my two cents worth.

I would get a Janome 6500 or Juki straight stitch for piecing and quilting only and the best embrodery machine you could get probably also a Janome. I have a 6500 and it is great.

Don't misunderstand the people who are having problems with the Horizon. It just came out in May and there were a few issues that needed to be corrected with the single stitch plate and the 1/4" foot had to be redesigned because of the feed dogs. I had the same problem on the 6600P and hated that machine because it always ate my cloth. When I got the Horizon the same thing happened. Then Janome sent out the new single stitch plate to the people who had an issue with a spring that broke and everyone got a new 1/4" foot that had registered their machine on Janome's website. All is well now and working smoothly with the Horizon.

I have the 11000SE 3.0 and love it it has the magnet hoops to quilt and the embroidery is wonderful I have made 2 queen size quilts on it it does not have the needle feed but you can use the walking foot on it I have use it to do a few stitch in the ditch quilts My friend just bought the 6600and the 350 E and she has done some amazing quilts with them so just get a good dealer that will let you try out all the machines and go with the ones you are most comfortable with the Dealer should be the deal breaker a good dealer offers free classes and service a Trust worthy dealer is the most impportant part

LOL! We don't have a garbage disposal (never have) and until recently I hadn't even tried the auto thread cutter on my machine. I do use it a little now but I could take it or leave it. I never had one until I got this machine (6600) about 6 mos ago and honestly didn't even know they existed. Needle up/down button, however, is a must-have for me.

I got a Horizon in August - love it, love it! That would be my selection for you!

I wouldn't get a combination embroidery machine / sewing machine. If one goes wrong, you are out both until you get them back from repair shop. Just my opinion.

I am very fortunate as I have the Horizon w/the 11" harp (traded my 6500 in on it) and the Viking Designer SE which I use for small quilts and embroidery. It's taken me 4 1/2 years to acquire both, but I wouldn't trade either for ANY OTHER machine, including a longarm. I LOVE BOTH OF THEM. The advice about a separate machine for embroidery is a wonderful suggestion; if I hadn't had the Designer SE before the Horizon, I would have opted for an embroidery only machine. Hope this helps.

Josi in Sebring FL

I have a Memory Craft 6600 Janome & a 350E emroidery machine Janome. I prefer to have separate machines in case one has to be in for repairs I still have the other. Do a comparesen of each ones fetures maybe that will help

I have brothers but...consider if you have to add an attachment to embroider...I didn't like taking one off and readjusting...guess I am spoiled so I wound up getting an additional machine to do my quilting and sewing on...so I can do both at the same time...
I didn't know enough at the time of my first machine purchase to think about this. So you may want to get a more simple machine to sew and quilt on and use the other for embroidery.
If that is an option for you.
You would like the bigger harp for quilting!

Sounds like with the info you gave, it's the 11000. I have a Bernina that I am so happy with but I really wish I had more arm space. With you being a quilter you would probably regret not getting that feature later on.

I'm like you, I don't know, I don't know.

I have both the Janome QC 6260 and the new Janome Horizon.
I love them both.
The 6260 is a workhorse. She'll sew through cement if you ask her :) It doesn't have a walking foot but I put on an aftermarket one and use it almost for everything. It does great FMQ but has a 6 1/2" harp space so that does make things a bit tight.
The Horizon is a dreamboat. The computerized menu is so easy to use because the dial on the front can be used to "scroll" through the menu instead of hitting a button a hundred times until you get the stitch you want.
It comes LOADED with every foot you could want.
It has a free arm and an extension table.
It has hundreds of stitches, and alphabets too.
It does have the built in walking foot, and it works very well.
It has more needle positions than you'll ever need because you can move it from the far left of 7mm to the far right.
It's a cinch to thread. You can see the bobbin through the clear plate to see if you're low on thread - without having the false alarm "bobbin low" alarms that a lot of computerized machines will give you.
It has the built in thread cutter. That's great for piecing, but I don't use it in FMQ because I prefer to bury my threads.
The one and only thing I'd change on the Horizon is the knee lifter. It's too far to the right to be comfortable for me to use - so I just attached a wad of cardboard to the arm with duct tape and now I can reach it fine.
AND the 11" throat is a dream to sew with.
I even use my Horizon on my Inspira quilting frame and she does a great job.

When I was doing my shopping, I did have the Husky/Viking 9" throat on order, then changed my mind to the Horizon. I've never looked back.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!

Go to the stores that sell the different ones and take a few test drives like you would with a car. Wait a little while and try as many as you think you might like to and then make the decision.

Horizon just beacuse of the longer arem sapce to quilt with but I love the Vikings Sapphires also long arms.

I do not have the Sapphire but do have 4 Vikings and can machine quilt on all of them

ConnieF

A Brother dealer told me Brother makes the Babylock?

I just read about the Horizon issue last night and that it had been fixed bt ty for letting me know that tho !!!
I'm going today to test it out woohoo !!

I follow the Horizon group on yahoo, and there aren't any complaints there currently. It's been mentioned that a new foot is sent when you register your machine. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one now except the Accufeed feet are so much wider and and there are fewer of them than on my Babylock Quest Plus. But again, 11".....drooooooool.......

Glad to hear what you said about the 6600 as I just bought one today. Got it all together but haven't started it up yet. Can't wait to. I have a Janome 3500 and like that and am keeping it for classes and the freearm feaure. If my 6600 performs as good as the 3500 I will be happy happy. I can do some letters on it right?

what is the difference between the Janome 6600 and the 6600P? I just got th 6600 today.

That's what I would like....and at that, a simple one. The thing is, I know that once I get a "simple" one, then I'll want to upgrade. Haven't been looking too much, but I do plan to get serious after the first. Any suggestions?