QuiltBridge

Love my Baby Lock Melody!! Pieced and quilted many quilts on it and does a beautiful job.

Dodie

I agree if your Viking was made in Sweden KEEP it you will not find them anymore
Viking, Pfaff and singer all joined together and now who knows where they are made nothing like those good old machines besides if you really want to get rid of it you could probably sell it outright for more than they would give you for a trade in

chiaraquilts

Love love love my babylock but it is a high end model. And I agree you are probably better off keeping the Viking if it is the older, made in Sweden type....always good to have a backup!

scrapinmema

I have the Baby Lock Serenade and love it but believe it is now discontinued. Also have an inexpensive Brother that I got from WalMart that I take to classes as the Baby Lock is rather heavy for me to carry.
Be sure and test all the machines you are considering and find the ones that best fits your needs and budget.

psumom

I have the Babylock Quest Plus, about 6 years old, and I've always been happy with it. It's great for piecing and for FMQ. I also have the Escape...I think the current version is called the Audrey. It's small and light and great for taking to classes, etc. It doesn't have the knee lift, though, so I don't use it often.

joeyoz

I have Baby Lock machines. Love them. They are so user friendly.

RainydayQuilter

I have the quilters choice. I've had it for 4-5 years and love it! At the time I think it was around $800 on sale. I moved up from a 70's Vigorelli that is a work horse but very hard to find someone to work on it and parts are hard to find. My Babylock does demand a spa retreat at the dealer about every 18-24 months depending on how much I've been using it. I clean it with every bobbin change but the tension and/or straight stitch will give me trouble until I break down and take it in for the servicing. It has the needle threader, thread cutter, and lots of decorative stitches. When I bought mine I had to drive over an hour to get to a city to buy one somewhere other than wal-mart or online. I researched for several months before making my decision, I also looked at janome and pfaff. Went with babylock because of the dealer. They had the best perks and customer care after the fact for me. Go in for several test drives of the machines, if they act like you're wasting their time then they aren't a dealer that will take care of you after the sale. Good luck and have fun shopping!

citruscountyquilter

I'm wondering why you want a new machine. Your Viking isn't that old. Are there particular features you're looking for that your Viking doesn't have? I have two Viking machines both 37 years old. One I've had since it was new and the other I bought from a friend a couple of years ago. They are wonderful machines. They don't have needle down (unless I put it that way), needle threader (that's me), thread cutter (that's me again) etc. but I'm OK with that. I sew most every day so the one I have had since it was new has had a lot of use. I'll replace them when they can no longer be repaired but not before.

MartiMorga

Brother does not make Baby Lock or vise versa - may I repeat Brother does not make Baby Lock or vise versa - check it out. Both are owned by separate entities. I have 3 Baby Locks, serger and 2 sewing/embroidery machines - love, love, love all my machines - even my 30 year old Singer. Go have fun trying them out, get the sales pitch and do your own comparison. Of all the threads here on machines I have not read one that warns of any bad brand machines.

Tom W

Brother does manufacture most of BabyLock's machines, and all that do embroidery units. They are exactly the same as the comparable Brother machine, down to the stitch and most embroidery designs. Brother has Disney and BabyLock has Nancy Zieman designs - otherwise identical. Yes they are separate companies, but BabyLock contracts with Brother to produce their machines.