I have a 20 year old Pfaff, which I love, and bought a new Pfaff five years ago. The quality of the new one is nowhere near the quality of the old one, and I ended up giving it to my DIL. I bought a used Bernina last year, and, while I love the quality, it has been a little hard for me to get used to. I guess my age is catching up with me, and also, I don't have the time I used to have to sew and I forget how to do things in between times that I use it. If I had it to do over again, at this point and having owned both machines, I would buy the Bernina.

I have the Bernina 820 & love it. The throat is big, it has the BSR & also has the dual feed foot which clips down from behind the presser foot when you want to use it. I have had it for 1 1/2 yrs. & not a lick of trouble & have not had it serviced yet. It speaks volumes in QUALITY. Hope this helps.

I have the Bernina 830 and I really like the BSR and the dual feed. It quilts very nicely. The dealer in my area is outstanding as is his staff. I believe that makes alot of difference in the brand you choose, is the dealer and service offered.

You make this sound like Singer acquired Pfaff/Viking. Please do "thorough" research on all of the companies and the machines they manufacture. I was surprised. I know the Bernina is a great machine, but I have a Viking Diamond and love it.

It helps enormously and in fact you are the final casting vote! I had a message very similar to yours from an English quilting forum: the Bernina has it! Just have to get the money together because it isn't cheap! And or get my dealer to be an angel and find me a demonstrator model! Thanks for your help.

Again a vote for Bernina. The Swiss are the winners I suspect. Thanks for your advice. We all forget tricks with machines. I am instinctive with my old Pfaff2144, I realise the Bernina will take some getting used to and cause some temper tantrums but it will be good. I found the manual in English which will help too. I speak German and French but often technical terms leave me standing! Mind you the bottom weight thread (see earlier in this post) left me standing too!

I have the Bernina 820 and bought it for the BSR, among other things. I'm just learning to fmq, but I understand the BSR makes it much easier. I'm taking lessons on it but, since I'm in FL for the winter, I haven't had a chance to use it very much.

We were in Germany for the winter, in a forest with 20centimeters of snow almost daily. Somehow I think you have the right idea and we went wrong somewhere! Now we are in France for the summer but it is rainingg.......... Thanlkks for another Bernina vote; I e-mailed my dealer for a price just two minutes ago......

If you need to consider the financial aspect...Bernina accessories are very expensive.

Since I retired the financial aspect always hovers! What accessories might I want I wonder. Do any of you Bernina folk out there have specific accessories you suggest? I guess I will need a stitch in the ditch foot.