bernina 180 question
Greg McAllister
back to the place where it is for sale a couple times and taken me along to
also take a look. She does needlework constantly, knits, smocks occasionally
and probably doesn't sew to terribly much because she has an old piece of
junk machine that always seems to be trouble when she uses it. So my
question is, given what I've described her as, should she spend the $4k
(CDN) on the machine plus another $300-$500 on extra parts or is there a
better more reasonably route to take ? I don't necessarily want to go the
cheapo route either and have her end up with something that she doesn't like
and thus doesn't use.
What do you think (and thanks) ?
Gym Bob
OMG you can buy a brand new Brother ULT-2001 for $4600 in Ontario.
Full screen with built in digitizing (not real practical) all the bells and
whistles you could want.
Maybe I am not understanding what a Bernina 180 is but I think it is
Brothers lower end machine??
"Greg McAllister" <mcall...@telus.net> wrote in message
news:OQXB9.12111$0A5.6...@news0.telusplanet.net...
Greg McAllister
with a brother ? Maybe old school of thought, but I've been led to believe
that there is nothing that can touch a Bernina in terms of quality ??
Thanks again
"Gym Bob" <no...@spammy.com> wrote in message
news:J7YB9.661$vS.209...@radon.golden.net...
Gym Bob
....when you embroider with a brother you don't have to stand up to get an
aerial view of our thread to thread the damn machine (which you will do a
lot)
..you won't have to walk around the back of the machine to line up the hook
catch with the hoop...
Find a dealer that deals in multi-brands, if you can find one and ask to sit
in on the lessons when there is a good cross section of brands
there....you'll soon discover there isn't many choices.
"Sylvia" <prin...@saenmail.com> wrote in message
news:vvchtu4qd37nmv033...@4ax.com...
> For sewing, a bernina is definitely better than a Brother (but a Pfaff
> is even better than a Bernina), for embroidery, they are all equal as
> far as quality of the embroidery is concerned. I have the Brother that
> Gym Bob is talking about (just for embr., for sewing I have a Pfaff),
> and it's very easy to use, and I have heard (but I have no experience
> with this) that the Bernina is quite difficult to learn. Other
> advantages of the Brother: a larger hoop, and the ability to use
> floppies, so when you download designs from internet that are in pes
> format (and the majority are), you don't need any software to write it
> to some expensive card.
> IMHO, with a brother, you get more value for your money.
Ros Pollock
software. The embroidery is brilliant, the machine just purrs away on any
material, and uses any brand of thread.The machine is a cinch to learn and
has on screen help button for checking stuff too.
The software is really good and easy to work with for digitising your own
designs or for working out stuff with lettering/free designs etc.The
software lets you use just about all the other embroidery formats so it
doesn't matter if it is .pes or .hus
Can't see me parting with mine-----unless to get the 200.:o)
Incidentally I don't have to stand up to thread the machine or line anything
up!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gym Bob
Is $4K a good price for that machine? I am not familiar with Bernina's
machine models.
$4K Canuckistan is about $2600 US or 1600 Brit. pounds (used.....no taxes)
"Ros Pollock" <Ca...@cpollock13.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:arc0ct$di7$1...@newsg3.svr.pol.co.uk...
Gym Bob
_Artista_180/display_~reviews
Greg McAllister
to thread the machine or walk around the back for anything that I could see
being demonstrated. I have no doubt that Bernina is a very good make, I
guess I was more looking for confirmation on the price -vs- features
"Gym Bob" <no...@spammy.com> wrote in message
news:VviC9.718$EQ3.21...@radon.golden.net...
>
http://www.epinions.com/hmgd-Sewing_Machines-Bernina-Sewing_Machines-Bernina
> _Artista_180/display_~reviews
>
>
>
Ros Pollock
this price can be lowered significantly by special offers etc. (The RRP for
the Brother 3000Disney is £2995, for comparison.)
A pre-owned 180E from a reputable dealer is for sale at the moment for
£1550----or best offer.This would have a full 2 year guarantee.(A new one
has a 5 year one plus free updates)
On Ebay etc I have seen them going for much closer to £1000 .
Forgot to say before that the stitch quality of the 180 and ease of use in
sewing mode is brilliant too------in fact the solution is to have one for
sewing and one for embroidery :o)
Gym Bob
excellent at less than $500 US or $799 Canadian (Walmart) so I have to
assume that all embroidery machines do excellent quality embroidery.
Another thing that should be mentioned of the Brother 2001 or 2002 is the
4096 huge colour screen. This makes things very nice for identifying thread
matches by eye instead of somebody's crazy colour name or running custom
sftware on your screen to digitize patterns on machine or whatever the
future brings.
I guess what i am saying is for $4000 to $4600 I would go the extra mile
anyday and get the Brother ULT2001 anyday. I have seen other machines with
their limited tiny LCD screens and negative features of the earlier
technology and the later technologies are well worth it. Now if you were
comparing a $2000 machine to this price level...then no comparison....live
with the extra hundreds of dollars for a cartridge programmer and software
to port your patterns over instead of 45 cent floppies.
Best of luck
"Ros Pollock" <Ca...@cpollock13.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:arcv34$nmd$1...@newsg3.svr.pol.co.uk...
Elizabeth Hall
no software at the time and without the software the machine, in my opinion,
is very limited. I was not able to get the software secondhand and was not
prepared to buy it new. I also had a Janome and did not like the way I had
to manipulate the embroidery to get it to centre where I wanted it and the
software was fairly basic, and so I bought a Brother 3,000 last year and
have now worked my way up today to V5 of the software. I personally, cannot
fault this machine. I find the large colour screen and the floppy drive the
most important thing to me - I would never have a sewing machine next to my
computer whilst I live in this house anyway.
On saying that all the top of the range machines are good and some will have
features you like better than others. It really has to be try as many as
them out as possible and make you decisions on your own particular needs.
It's just like buying a car - and also at the end of the day it's what you
like and what you think is a good deal.
Good luck and enjoy and use whatever you decide to buy.
Liz
"Greg McAllister" <mcall...@telus.net> wrote in message
news:OQXB9.12111$0A5.6...@news0.telusplanet.net...
Greg McAllister
weekend and looked at the the Husqvarna and (sigh) the Bernina 200e. This
$4k hobby is now starting to look like $8k and I'm seriously wondering about
her sanity and my own for considering it. We will look at the Brother,
although I know it will be a tough sell because she has the idea that
Bernina = quality, and Brother is a Japanese toy.
"Elizabeth Hall" <l...@autopromk.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
news:arofl5$l4e$1...@news8.svr.pol.co.uk...
onceUponAtime
can not get used from a dealer as people are trading them in for the
new one (which I think is over priced). The bernina handles bigger
files than my old brother but the new brothers handle the bigger
files. I like them both but really like the brothers top loading
bobbin -- the berninas a royal pain, the cutting of thread when that
color is finished and the ease of treading and use of the brother.
tell your wife that brother made the decos for bernina! I like being
able to connect the pc directly to the bernina, but the new brothers
also have a much easier file transfer. But my dh is a real puter nut
and I have more of them than tvs and phones. . . so having a computer
in sewing room, living room, etc to transfer files is easy for me.
The brother is a fine piece of equipment and I have wondered if i made
a mistake spending so much for a bernina....will never say that to dh.
She really needs to use both. and 4K is even high if you get the
brother from one of the internet sellers or watch for sales. It
really is a better value and machine. One other thing is the bernina
feet are $$$$ I can order feet that work on my brother from nancy
notions. paid $$ to get a conversion set up for the bernina when I
bought it. $95 for a walking foot for the bernina. It's like having a
teenager again!
my 2 cents.
Hilary
Yes I would have like to spend a lot more but you have to cut your cloth
accordingly. Maybe in years to come if I'm using the machine as much or
more than planned I will go for a top of the range model. But its like any
new hobby you dont know if your going to stick with it.
Unless money is unlimited I would sit down together and work out a top
comfortably paid figure and stick to that limit. Its no good buying the
dream machine then fall about arguing cause the repayments are due.
:o)
"Greg McAllister" <mcall...@telus.net> wrote in message
news:J5KE9.1098$fk5.1...@news0.telusplanet.net...
Gym Bob
I believe Brother is one of the most common types.
I had her opinion of Brother 35 years ago when I first saw Brother sewing
machines. I have since experienced a few brother machines at
work...labellers and such and am very impressed.
The Babylock machines so tooted by many for quality are Brother Machines
with some of the software removed and a few special stitches added. Some
Berninas are brothers with the name changed...not sure which.
Where are you?. I believe you are in the west provinces of Canuckistan.
"Greg McAllister" <mcall...@telus.net> wrote in message
news:J5KE9.1098$fk5.1...@news0.telusplanet.net...
Greg McAllister
at buying anything...sold the house there and bought slightly less out here.
regarding a new sewing machine, its gonna be tough to buy a 10 year old used
ford when swmbo has seen a shiny new caddy.
Greg
ps - that's 'she who must be obeyed' :)
"Gym Bob" <no...@spammy.com> wrote in message
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Gym Bob
Y'all come bayack now.
"Greg McAllister" <mcall...@telus.net> wrote in message
news:1UCF9.19992$yV1.1...@news1.telusplanet.net...
Greg McAllister
ULT2001. We were both very impressed but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I
think the price was 4599 or 5499 for the Disney model (which doesn't
interest my wife thank goodness). Does that seem reasonable, or should I
shop around some more for a better price ?
Thanks
"Gym Bob" <no...@spammy.com> wrote in message
news:TnTF9.251$qz6.16...@radon.golden.net...
Hilary
but mailorder saved me at least £80 on the pe180 and Pe design 5. So would
have expected to save proportionately more on a bigger, better machine.
Dont know whether there would be such a difference in your part of the world
but worth a look?
"Greg McAllister" <mcall...@telus.net> wrote in message
news:RInG9.4709$77.4...@news2.telusplanet.net...
Marc Venken
Best price I could find (Belgium)
Marc
"Greg McAllister" <mcall...@telus.net> schreef in bericht
news:RInG9.4709$77.4...@news2.telusplanet.net...
Gym Bob
ULT2002D. I bought the higher end only because the dealers thought there was
no difference in the machines. This made me suspect something in the
background like more internal memory or updatable software capablities.
After upgrading the software online to Version 3.0 and finding it worked
just the same in the 2001 machine I felt kind of burnt for the $800
difference.
The Disney Stuff isn't worth $800....only takes about 30 minutes on the
internet to get equivalent. Believe me it gets boring fast after sewing out
a few times.
BTW: I did a fair bit of searching for online dealers and the Canuck prices
are lower. By the time I got it through customs it was much more expensive
than local. If I smuggled it from the US I think it would have been slightly
cheaper. NOT worth the few dollars saved because of the maintenance and
tweaks the dealer has done to get this complicated piece of machinery
"tuned" to smooth operation. You may be unlucky also. We have had the bobbin
carriage replaced on the spot because of the bad stuff we did and damaged it
pretty badly. OURS or FACTORY's fault?
Best of luck Greg!
"Greg McAllister" <mcall...@telus.net> wrote in message
news:RInG9.4709$77.4...@news2.telusplanet.net...
Steven Welsh
experienced seamstress. I am trying to help her get going with support on
the computer side of the embroidery hobby. We found that the best purchase
for our money is the Sears Kenmore Elite ergo3 embroidery/sewing machine
model 385.19010. It is on sale in the States for 1799.99 until today on the
sears web site. It has a regular price of 1999.99 USD. It has a full color
touch screen, computer interface with a cable? compactflash memory card,
made by Janome and releasing this next week the customizer 19010 which will
have all of the support software and hardware memory supplies required.
Just a thought. Please take it for what it is worth. We have had a Kenmore
sewing machine for 5 years with absolutely no problems and found that it was
quite a bargin compared to other machines on the market. Best for this
season, Steve & Tatyana
=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-
"Sylvia" <prin...@saenmail.com> wrote in message
news:vvchtu4qd37nmv033...@4ax.com...
> For sewing, a bernina is definitely better than a Brother (but a Pfaff
> is even better than a Bernina), for embroidery, they are all equal as
> far as quality of the embroidery is concerned. I have the Brother that
> Gym Bob is talking about (just for embr., for sewing I have a Pfaff),
> and it's very easy to use, and I have heard (but I have no experience
> with this) that the Bernina is quite difficult to learn. Other
> advantages of the Brother: a larger hoop, and the ability to use
> floppies, so when you download designs from internet that are in pes
> format (and the majority are), you don't need any software to write it
> to some expensive card.
> IMHO, with a brother, you get more value for your money.
>
mhi...@gmail.com
Marie
>Can anyone tell me how to change the stitch plate on the bernina 180, its pathetic i know, but it just wont budge, hope someone can help, thanks