sewingpup

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.

Iceblossom

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 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.

SusieQOH

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.

Tartan

If you like to learn new things and are able to have a dealer to help you trouble shoot problems, then you should be okay.

lblank42

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.

DrosieD

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.

WesternWilson

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?