I have the Pfaff 7570 and the Pfaff 2170. I do a fair amount of embroidery and quilting, so I wanted to upgrade to a machine with a larger throat and a bigger hoop. I went to my local dealer who sells both Bernina and Pfaff. He was very up front and told me some horror stories about the new Pfaffs since the merger. He showed me the difference in workmanship between the Pfaff creative vision and the Bernina 830. When all was said and done, I bought the Bernina. (The prices were comparable) I love the machine and the dealer is very patient with my many questions. I know some are sold on others brands, and that is "what makes the world go round ".
I just finished a king size quilt on the 830 and was thoroughly satisfied with the results. Here is the link to that quilt:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...t-t184776.html
Good luck and let us know your final decision.

I don't understand your statement. Is it a question?

I have the Husqvarna Viking Sapphire 875. It has a 10" throat on it, sews wonderfully on quilts and garments.

I work for SVP, they own Singer,Viking and Pfaff; its an umbrella corporation.

From my understanding bottom weight is a finer thread. Like 60 wt.

I think I have decided: it is the Bernina. Too many horror stories for the Pfaff and so many people enamoured with their trouble free Berninas. Just waiting for a response from my dealer in Germany: or I could dump him and buy here in France!!

Just one question remains: Stitch in the Ditch foot. I know I need one..... Anyone know the reference number? For Bernina of course.

Thanks so much for your thoughts: it really helps.

Brabant, do you want a general SITD foot or do you want it for quilting? The walking foot for the 830/820 has an attachment available for SITD. I have one, but have yet to use it as I don't SITD very often. I'm more of a FMQ person.

Golly Candace you are very helpful. I am very new to quilting. I have decided to do the patchwork by hand and then quilt on the machine. I like the idea of stitching in the ditch and the book I am using to learn from says "get a Stitch in the Ditch foot". I bought one for the Pfaff2144 I have but that is just a transient thing as I want to have the Bernina 820 as my real quilter. If the walking foot has an attachment and it comes with the machine, then it seems that is another point in the machine's favour.
Once again many many thanks for all your real help and advice.

[QUOTE=cheezythequiltmaker;5126994]

"Another thing to consider is the Pfaff will almost certainly have a dual feed ( IDT) which is the pateneted built in walking foot which you can engage or not at will with most of the other regular feet. meaning you can piece with a 1/4 foot and have the benifits of the walking foot at the same time. I don't know if the bernina has this or not."


I have a Bernina 830 and they came out with dual feed before Pfaff. I love my Bernina. I even have a Bernina long arm table that I purchased when I bought my Bernina 830. The Bernina 830 is made for quilting! I has a very deep throat. They sell the LATs with the Bernina 830s because they work so well together. The Pfaff is less expensive and is a very good machine also, but just wanted to set the record straight about the dual feed! I use that with all my feet. I buy the feet that use dual feed.

I'm not certain what will come with the 820 as the attachments that came with the 830 are different. I had to purchase my walking foot separately which is not a cheap tool. I do believe it comes standard with the 820, but do check on that. Also, the walking foot had been updated so make sure it's the NEW walking foot and not the older one. And the SITD attachment for the walking foot may be an additional purchase. I'm not sure if the SITD attachment is bundled with the new walking foot or not. Again, since I had the old walking foot, I bought the SITD attachment after it came out. I *think* the SITD attachment was about $30 here. These would be good questions for the dealer you go through and you may get the dealer to throw it in with your purchase.