Buy the biggest hoop size you can afford. If you have dealers in your area, be sure to check out their trade ins. They have been checked over by the techs and you can get more bang for the buck.

Chk with the BBB on local dealers. I purchased a machine about 15 yrs ago from one local dealer and found out later they were horrible to deal with. that's a big part of what you're buying.
I have the Brother pe770, the only thing i don't like is the screen, you can't see what you're emb.
also, for designs not on the machine, you need a comp with a readable program and a usb thumb drive less than 4 gb. preferable 2 gb. hard to find now. and expensive. you can get them from the net. ck out alot of free designs too b4 you buy them. Alot of companies give out free designs monthly, weekly and daily and they are nice.

Here's a tip if you decide to look at the Bernette Deco machines or the Elna machines. The Deco machines are built by Brother or Janome, depending on the model and Elnas are built by Janome. You'll pay less money buying the comparable Brother or Janome machine.

Cari

Ditto for me

I don't know about these other machines mentioned, but I have a long-retired Janome Memory Craft 9000 and its smallest setting for embroidering names is larger than I want for a quilt label. However, it might be fine for your needs so definitely test-run whatever you're looking at to see if the sizes fit your wants.

~ Carla ~

I have 3 embroidery machines. My first, a Babylock Sophia 1 is just such a nice little machine. It has 2 hoops, which is limiting. I wanted a larger machine after a few years, but really didn't want to trade in the Sophia, so I bought a Janome 11000SE. It is a much bigger machine, came with 4 hoops and there is a mega hoop available if I wanted to buy it. A year or so ago my best friend died of cancer, and ultimately I bought her Babylock Elegante from her husband. Not sure which one I like best yet, but need to decide soon as I really need to sell at least one!! They are all really good machines!

My lessons (the expensive kind) 1. Buy the biggest hoop size right up front. If you get a 4x4 you will quickly want to upgrade. 2. Buy one that you can add the snap hoop to in the future (magnetic hooping is a dream!). 3. Make sure it has a USB port. Card readers are old technology and you shouldn't be paying for it in a new machine! 4. If you get a Janome or one that has restrictions on how you have to save the files to your USB drive (subfolders) make sure you understand it completely before you leave the store!

I've got the Brother PE770 (agree about the screen, but it's what I could afford at the time) the Baby Lock Unity which I absolutely love as a combo machine. and sew all the time with my sister who bought the Janome, and would love to trade for a baby lock.

I have the Viking/Husqvarna Topaz 20 and have been having a lot of fun with it. My biggest concern is, I can't do Disney with it. Someone once told me that I can buy them from the Brother website and then convert them over but so far have not tried it.

When I got my machine I was at the dealer to have a machine serviced, and he showed me the Viking. Told him I didn't think an embroidery machine was in my future but he made me a deal on the floor model I couldn't refuse. Plus he gave it the full warranty as if it came out of the box. It is a quilting and embroidery machine.

Figure out what it is you want to make and then talk to your dealer. I needed instruction so I highly recommend going thru a dealer.

wow, you embroidered those on a 4x4 hoop? Love it..hope to see it done!

I love, love, love my Viking Ruby! However, unless you really intend to do ALOT of embroidering, it would be more machine than what you would probably want. I do agree with the previous poster who advised you to stay away from anything that uses embroidery cards as they are definitely old technology. I did have an opportunity to *play* on a Brother recently...not sure of the model but it retails around $1200-1400. It was a nice little machine preloaded with Disney...small hoop size, though. Because it was being used as a demo machine, I could have purchased it for 750. I did consider it because my grand daughter loves Disney....and that would have been pretty much all I wanted it for so I decided to pass on it. I, too, am retired and I just think twice before I buy things now. Seriously, I would suggest you visit several different dealers and 'test-drive' lots of machines.