srowe

Having ongoing issues with my 10 year old Viking Topaz 20 and find myself in an area where the closest machine repair or sales are at least an hour away.

I am torn. Continue to struggle (local machine repair charges me $150 and shrugged his shoulders and said Oh Well or just give in and get a new machine and hope for a better outcome. I piece quilts and then do my own quilting so i need a larger throat machine. Donʻt care about fancy stitches but do like the features Topaz has like tapping the foot peddle to lower the pressure foot. Also would like to stay under $2,000.

Advice, Comments?

Susan

ibex94

srowe/Susan -- if your repair person is useless at this point, and you need a larger throat machine and you know your price point, check out what machines are available online. I did a search for large throat sewing machines and came up with a bunch of options under your price point. Look at the individual machines and if any appeal to you, you can research that machine more in depth. Don't forget to consider the brand that your repair person is supposed to specialize in, too.

Of course, you can always become a Viking repair person specializing in Topaz 20. :-)

Good luck!

srowe

Yep - been looking online for several years. Most my friends are Viking sewers - a few Babylock. I would do a Sapphire in a heartbeat except for the negative I read about Viking quality currently. Considerating the issues I have had I should be running the other way.

Was hoping someone would have a Sapphire or a 6650 and give some advice. Like i said any repair or sales are an hour away so want a reliable machine.

Thanks

Susan

ibex94

I have a Babylock Joy which is essentially a much smaller $300 machine. I am loving the babylock experience but it is a new machine. We shall see. Sure there are some Sapphire folks in the QB that can help you out here, I would stay away from Viking right now, f'sure. I have been reading that Babylock is supposed to be the current reliable machine. The problem is whatever is good today doesn't mean it will be good tomorrow. Seeking advice from others on this board is wise! Good luck!!

sewingpup

umm...that is a tough one. I have Vikings and Bernina's and I firmly believe having a tech within driving distance is very important especially with the computerized machines. I have a Viking Topaz 40 which I paid under $2000 brand new. The Viking tech in my area is very knowledgeable and will work on several different brand machines. I switched over to Bernina basically because I wanted a sit down machine with a stitch regulator for free motion when they first came out (got a Bernina 440 then traded her in for the 630, then traded that one after a lot of years for a 570 which I do believe was a lemon and after much frustration, traded that one in for a 590 which I am loving but is not a machine you an just sit down and stitch because you have to learn how to run it. However, I don't have much faith in the owner of the Bernina dealership around here who also sells Janome which it is very apparent she is more interested in. The tech seems to be OK but is relatively new to the Bernina line. Back to the Vikings, I have had several of the older ones including the 500, Viking D1, Viking SE all of which I loved. The 500 I gave away and as far as I know it is still running great, the SE I also gave away as I just loved the D1 too much, and the D1's screen finally went belly up after at least 20 years. So, I bought the Viking topaz 40 when I was having all the problems with my Bernina 570 but now that I have the Bernina 590, I am using mostly that machine. I think I would consider another Viking at this point because I trust the Tech there. I would never buy an expensive computerized machine online because I do believe that it is a very good idea to have a troubleshooter nearby. I think I would consider other brands if there were those types of techs nearby. I also believe that the older basic machines will have a longer life then the newer computerized ones as they are basically computers, and we all know computers have a limited lifespan.

mkc

The only other brand that I think you can control the presser foot up/down with the foot pedal is Bernina, and then only some of them. If you use this feature to change direction, you can get that with a machine that has the pivot/float feature (automatically raising presser foot a little when you stop sewing).

The Janome 6650 does not have a pivot/float function. You'd need to look at something like the Skyline S7, S9, or 9450 to get that (or if you want to do embroidery, the MC15000, but that one's nowhere near budget).

A number of Brother machines offer the pivot function.

Rhonda K

Brother/BL have that function with the foot pedal on some machines. The foot pedal can be programmed for different features. There is also a button feature available.

sewingpup

Some of the Bernina's also have a knee lift which raises the foot a bit when you push it with your knee. It took me a while to get used to it on my 630, then I found it wonderful for stitching around applique and also for piecing as I could raise the foot enough to put the piece up right against the needle. My 590 has both the settings to decide if you want that hover position with needle down or just the usual way and there are a lot of options as how you set it up, however, it is well above the $2000 range. Topaz 40 does have this feature and the Topaz 50 has the bigger harp area.

lindaschipper

If you are wanting a straight stitch only machine let me recommend the Janome 1600P. This is the machine I quilt with and is totally a work horse. Never had a problem with it that wasn't human error. I have used it for piecing aslo, but now use my Janome MC6500 for that and leave the 1600P on a small Grace frame.

thimblebug6000

I got the sapphire 930 last year and enjoy it, I had the 850 previously and they are identical in features as far as I can tell. I use my machine daily, and love the “hover” option. It is great for machine appliqué.