Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2012
UPDATE: APR 2017: having now owned this machine for 5 years, I am going to say that as an inexpensive embroidery machine I do not feel I have wasted my money. I have had time to play around with different techniques, designs, etc. I purchased additional software (on ebay for much cheaper), downloaded hundreds of designs, made hundreds of embroidery on garments, bags and have also made patches (great youtube tutorials out there for that). Now that I have experienced what I will call the Hyundai version of an embroidery machine and find that I have use for this technique and understand more than basics, I am ready to upgrade to a newer, more expensive machine. I have loved this machine despite its quirks, and at the time of my initial purchase I was not ready to spend thousands of dollars for a new hobby. now I am ready. This machine does have limitations for sure (as I said in the beginning) but it was great to start with.
UPDATE NOV 2015: I suppose that after reading all of the negative comments about this machine I may have been one of the lucky ones. As I posted when I first got this machine, there were quirks, but once figured out, this turned out to be a great embroidery machine for the casual embroidering that I enjoy. Perhaps if I were inclined to spend over $1500 for a machine I would upgrade to a Janome or Bernina but for my purposes, this machine has been top notch. what I love about this machine after so long a time of ownership is the larger hoops, it does a beautiful straight stitch and the ability to plug in to my computer and download images. I have successfully embroidered dozens of jackets, aprons, quilt tops, have done quilting and general sewing and it has turned out to be an all around good machine. Yes, singer customer service sucks. I would rather search the internet for answers than talk to a person anyway, so my two phone calls to them in the beginning were worthless and I found answers on my own. I did not drop $$ on this machine to give up so easily. Anyway, 2 years later and not disappointed in this machine at all.
ORIGINAL:
Let me begin with background to establish my experience and validity of this review. I have been sewing for 27 years - I have used Singer machines made in 1931 all the way through the 21st century. I make clothing, quilts, crafts, home accessories and household items, as well as alter/tailor those same items. I know how to repair basic malfunctions of a sewing machine. Embroidering is completely new to me. With that said here goes.
I purchased this machine because it has been 16 years (yes she said 16) since I have owned a NEW machine. All of my machines (9 of them) have been given to me by frustrated people who didn't have the time or inclination to be patient with this craft and their instrument to accomplish their objective - have fun sewing. For me, after two months of ownership, this is a GREAT machine. I needed a machine that would do basic stitching, buttonholes, give me a large quilting area and now embroidering. Because I am new to this piece, I did not want to spend thousands of dollars on a machine to find out it was not for me.
THE MACHINE:
As others have said, yes there is a learning curve. I am a computer geek, but this software is not so difficult that you cannot literally take the machine out of the box and sew. It is very very basic. I did months and months of research and knew that I was not getting all the preloaded software required to do more complex embroidery - again, i would rather pay as I go and learn. READ THE MANUAL! It took me about 2 hours to read the manual, play around with different aspects of the funtionality. Took me about 1 hour to learn how to do basic embroidery. I think that is a fairly decent curve.
I have discovered that not all embroidery is equal. smaller designs mean slow down the speed or yes, the thread will break, the needle will jam, etc. Yes you have to use the right stabilizer - not all material is created equal. YES, you have to use the right needle - just like with regular sewing, the right size needle means more effective sewing with less trouble. I can only imagine the people complaining about thread breakage, jamming, etc. are not looking at ALL of the items that make for good output. Just like you can't sew jeans with a number 9 needle, you can't embroider a fabric with more stretch than a standard cotton with the same needle. Your thread will break. It's common sewing sense.
For whatever reason, yes occaisionally the software will say the hoop size is different than what you have - so what. You just click continue and it fixes itself. It does not mean you can't sew a beautiful design. This only happens to me on the basic installed software that came with the machine, not the Autopunch or Hyperfont. So am thinking it is a flaw in the software, not the machine.
As far as the stitching - the lines are consistent, evenly spaced, easily adjustable, and it is quiet. If i had issues embroidering where the stitches skipped or something puckered - that is operator error, due to sewing too fast, or not using the right stabilizer. If I fix me, the machine does what it is supposed to do.
Multihooping takes practice - again, not the fault of the machine, it is an operator error. READ THE DANG INSTRUCTIONS people.
LOVE LOVE the fact that it has a large hoop, means less multihooping generally needed.
One glitch i had, and not sure why, after using the reverse button, a clunking noise started happening. I ultimately opened up the bobbin hook, jiggled some stuff around, maneuvered the needle up and down and it corrected itself. I don't know why this happened except maybe i reversed back and forth to quickly and didn't give the machine time to catch up. It has not done it again but i will keep an eye out for it. This was the ONLY issue I have had that was maybe machine related.
The large opening has allowed me to quilt beautifully without all the struggle i have had with other machines that have a smaller area. this is a huge plus and one of the reasons i decided on this machine. Yes the machine is big, but I read the specifications before I purchased. Hmmm.. imagine that - reading about the product. Amazing things can happen if one reads stuff.
Overall, yes I would recommend this machine. Yes there is a learning curve, yes you have to be patient. But this can turn out beautiful products, and do all your basic sewing as well.
UPDATE FEB 7, 2013
Funny - I had a very negative comment under my review that disappeared. I was preparing to respond. Anyway, I have had this machine now for about 4.5 months. Maybe i have been lucky or more patient than others, this is still an excellent machine. I will say again, as I did before, when I do things out of order, or get impatient, the error messages show up on the machine. I have had not problem correcting/bypassing/ignoring them.
I have downloaded designs from various websites and have had no problem with the software accepting the ones I have chosen. My favorite so far has been embroiderydesigns.com. I have found that the quality of the end results depends a lot on: thread, stabilizer, speed, quality/age of needles. I would not expect this to be any different from any other machine although I cannot compare.
Some things I have learned:
1. thread breaking: this happened to me, i rethreaded, got the message again, rethreaded, again. etc. I am not afraid to open up the guts of a machine. What I learned, since this was new to me on the single thread through the enclosed top part of the machine, my thread broke and i pulled out what i thought was the remnant. However, there was a piece left inside. Therefore, the software/machine kept reading it as a thread break. Once i cleared it, I did not have the message again.
2. stupid clunking: this seems to be an enigma with the bobbin holder. Every once in awhile i have to unscrew the plate, pull out the bobbin, clean out the "rabbit fur" as my daughter calls it, put it all back, and it is fine. Small annoyance but I can move past that - the machine is super quiet when sewing a regular stitch, which I love. It also does fantastic general stitching overall.
3. Wrong hoop size: this is happening for me if I try to work the steps of embroidery for this machine out of order. But i can hit escape and it goes away. Trying to figure out how it does not go away, as people have complained and I can't make it stay there, so i really have no solution, although I was hoping to find a miracle answer.
4. YES! join the yahoo group! those folks have been at this longer than new owners and have figured out the quirks.
5. Invest in the software add ons in small bits at a time. This is critical. There is a learning curve with every piece of this machine software. Buy too much at once and you will be overwhelmed.
6. Design from scratch - this is what I love the most. I have been able to import graphics - from our church, clubs, etc. - and create beautiful designs to make as patches, logos, gifts. This has been the most surprising benefit for me, and so much fun for all in receipt of the end result. but this takes patience in editing and design. You can be a computer whiz, like some others have reported, but the design and function of THIS machine take a learning curve. I don't know how many times I can stress this fact.
I will update again, but for now, after an extended period of use, I have NO regrets about the purchase of this machine. I wish others could love it as much. Blessings for now!