MamaHen

I have a dealer that is about 45 miles away. He sells both Janome & Brother because he feels they are both good quality & well made machines. Seeing Brother & Baby Lock are made by same company, (He even said so) you probably can't go wrong with any of these three brands of machines. I purchased a Baby Lock Ellisimo Gold II, because I got such a great deal on it. I have only had it a month or so, but just love it. AND it is HEAVY, so who ever said they are all made of plastic is talking out of the wrong side of their head.

neenee586

Is there by any chance a quilt expo coming to your area? You can sit down and test drive all kinds of machines at one of those. Chances are you could make a great deal on one too. Good luck. My daughter and I have many Baby Locks and are very satisfied with that brand.

quilter2090

That dealer sounds like one I would stay away from. If you have to put another brand down to make yours better, I wouldn't buy from him. This past summer I was having a sealed bid to rent my farmland. One of the bidders came to my farm, proceeded to tel me that my current renter was just a terrible farmer,etc,etc,etc. Needless to say, I did not accept his bid. Like I said, if you have to put someone else down to try and make you or your product look better, run not walk the other way.

KittyD

Thank you everyone for all your sound advice - the advice to try out the various machines is certainly a sound one and it will give me a feel on the different dealers and whether I would want to do business with them. Also, I will check out some shows. Again, thanks.

pieced_I'm_sure

I have a Babylock serger and it is quality made at it's best! I wouldn't have any other of serger. I also have a Janome 6600 that is a workhorse and is very, very heavy. I can't imagine it being made of plastic inside, as the outside is all heavy metal. I also have small, cheaper brothers and to be honest, they just don't suit my style. To me they are just not up to the standard of the Babylocks, Janomes, Berninas, Juki's. But again, this is just my opinion. I've only purchased the cheaper end Brothers (under $400) & I don't use them very much....

Rose Marie

My Baby Lock Jane is primitive. Complicated threading.
Love all my Brother machines. Simple to use. Have a cheap Brother embroidery machine also and it is a great little machine.
Still have my first Brother $125 machine and it is still going strong.
My expensive machine is a Viking Sapphire and love it.

Auntie V

I think many dealers are interested in only making a sale. Usually something I look for when shopping is who will be doing the service. It sure is not the dealer most of the time. I usually will check around for a non connected but authorized repair shop that does more than one brand of machine and ask questions.