Judi in Ohio

My first Viking was bought when I went to a dealer. He heard me say I was interested in an Elna so he went in the back and brought me out 2 machines, a Viking an an Elna and sent me home with them. He did not know me. That would never happen today, but I bought the Viking. Viking, Pfaff, and Singer are now owned by a corporation that came into my area, took the dealership from these original Viking dealers and gave them to a business I avoided for many reasons. Long story short, I got my first Babylock and never looked back. Babylock is owned by Tacony and many (higher end) are made in the Brother factories. I love my Babylocks, have had Brothers also. I just won't deal with corporations that I know don't protect their dealers. Bernina also did that about 10 yrs back. Heard they took away smaller quilt stores dealerships and gave them to multi brand dealers. I value integrity and both these companies have not shown it.
The sewing machines are fine - Bernina is expensive in the extreme, but if you love them you will pay it. All the machines have raised their game so it is what features make you happy.

ckcowl

I've had my Viking for 14 years now ( wow, time flies) I have other machines but 99% of the time use my Viking. Bought the embroidery module with it so it does everything I could want a machine to do. I love that machine and am ( spoiled) by some of its features. The dealer/ customer service is great too. I had a whole week of free new owners classes when I bought it so I learned how to use each foot, stitch, feature it had to offer.

Quiltbeagle

I had my beloved Husqvarna Lily for 15 years and used it almost daily. It was easy to use and had a beautiful stitch and I made many quilt tops as well as doing the quilting with it. After all those years it needed replacing because the plastic gears inside seemed to have worn out and it was...tired. I got a Janome 6600, love it, and because it's got metal gears nothing should wear out for a really long time. I make all my quilt tops with it and it's doing very well for me so far, though I can't speak for doing the actual quilting with it as I use my long arm machine for that. If possible you should test drive as many machines/brands as you can to see which ones you're comfortable using, and what features you really like before making a decision.

RugosaB

I have not been to this list in 6 months, and the first thing I saw when coming back was this thread, so I just figured it was meant to be, I had to comment:
In 1988 or so my Singer died and the old guy that owned the shop told me I wore it out. I then learned it was a lot of plastic inside so I asked him "you got any that don't have plastic?
He showed me a Viking Husqvarna 630
I have the same machine still. I have always used it at least 5 days a week, if not more.
I started serious quilting 10 years ago. At one point I bought the quilting/darning foot, but after a year it broke. So, not wanting to wait for a replacement, I used my open toe foot. It worked perfectly, and has never been replaced.
The machine has 2 speeds and lots of features that I'm happy I have when fmg.

9 years ago I had a traumatic brain injury. I have been very very lucky and still retain my sewing abilities. One thing I have trouble with is learning new things. I know parts for this machine may be hard to find so I have accumulated 6 Viking 630s on ebbay, for parts was the idea. I'm not sure I could learn a new one.
They ALL work! I use them in rotation because I've heard of machines in storage 'freezing up.'
A couple even came with a walking foot.
I can't say it as fact. but I've heard that new Vikings are no longer made in Sweden and the quality has really gone down. If so, imo, they are now a plastic Singer.

I know newer machines have fancier stitches, but I'm satisfied with what this machine does

SharonTheriault

I have the Sapphira (can't spell worth a darn) 960Q. Love it! No problems, except the ones I make, but those are easy to fix too.

letawellman

OK, so I have a Viking Designer1 - bought it used ten years ago, it's so old that it uses floppy diskettes to load the embroidery designs. I have worked that thing to death, and it still keeps chugging right along!! Then last week, one of the ladies in my guild bought a new Janome, and decided to sell all her other machines to help pay for the new one, and she sold me her Viking Quilt Designer. Again, it's an older machine, and I haven't had time to play with it since I picked it up Saturday, but I'm looking forward to the little bit extra throat space, plus all the feet work on both machines.
Even my longarm is a Husqvarna Viking.

I have been COMPLETELY happy with my machines, and think you will be too!!

letawellman

As a follow up to another post's comment about the Viking's not being made in Sweden anymore... this is true - but only for certain machines. Ask the dealer where the machine is made, and go from there.
My two DSM's were made in Sweden, and I think my longarm was made here in the USA.

Again, any issues I've had were purely "operator error".

newbee3

they may not be made in Sweden any more but they go thru rigorous inspections I have quilt designer 11 and topaz I use for embroidery they are good machines my quilt designer 11 was made in Sweden I bought it new in 2000