cathylynn

totally agree with you, mimmy96! love my Brother pc-420! have 2 others for backup - the cs6000i and a basic
$80.00 Brother purchased from Walmart about 8 years ago. Brother definitely gives you more bang for your buck.

Dolphyngyrl

I love my brother SQ-9050 from walmart 200 bucks. what features are you looking for. There will always be conflicting reviews of machines, some people can love and hate the same machine. There are those that hate low end brothers from walmart but I love mine. It's an amazing piecer, travel , and class machine. I have used it alot for almost 2 years with no problems. I have seen bad reviews and good of my machine. Good thing everybody has different tastes or we wouldn't have so many wonderful choices. The babylock audrey is also a nice choice or the brother pc-420 if you want more of the high end features without the high end price. it runs about 400 and it has needle threader, automatic thread cutter, ability to adjust presser foot pressure, needle down feature. I don't have this one but it gets good reviews as does the brother cs6000i which my SIL has and loves.

Prism99

Be sure to check for reviews on Amazon too. Often you can learn a lot about a machine by reading all of the reviews.

tjk829

I had never heard of the Brother PC-420 but I think I am leaning that way. I didn't realize I was spoiled rotten by my Babylock, but the auto thread cutter is a big deal...I really miss it! The other features on the 420 are really close to the Babylock as well, I know they are manufactured by the same company, so it's not really a surprise. I suspect there would be a smaller learning curve as well and as a bonus, it is about $100 cheaper than the Janome!

lots2do

The janome dc2012 is the same machine basically as the janome retired dc3050. I have the dc3050 and love it. I'd buy it again.

tjk829

I didn't realize there were "classes" of sewing machines when I bought my first machine....a Brother SE-350 from Walmart, I spent more than I had ever paid for a machine before and was so very proud and happy with it. It was a combination sewing/embroidery machine and I wanted a design card to explore the embroidery function. I went to a Brother dealer and they were very snobbish referring to my machine as a "just a mass produced machine" as if the ones they sold were made one at a time! When I was ready to purchase a big gun machine, I went to the Babylock dealer and purchased a high end machine that was basically the same as Brother but I didn't have to deal with those sellers. I guess that made me a reverse snob, but who cares where you get a machine if it works for you? Honestly sometimes I just don't get it!

Karenowc

I love my Janome machines (I have 3). They are real workhorses.

damaquilts

I have the QC 1000 which they don't make anymore. But if you look at a Babylock it has the same screen so I am thinking they are made in the same place. I wouldn't buy a Brother from a place like Walmart but would go to a dealer for one. A little more expensive maybe but the help and backup is nice.

romanojg

When I got back into sewing a few yrs ago I had a 25yr old singer. I decided I wanted a newer one but couldn't afford the higher end on like I have now. I went to Sears and got a Kenmore made by Janome, it works great. Doesn't care what kind of thread I use or anything else. It doesn't weight much either. I got it for a great price and then bought the extended warranty from them. I don't need a dealer to get it serviced, just take it in to them (you can do a once a yr check) and they service it. I have all of my appliance warranties with them because of this once a yr check at no charge plus if they can't fix it, they'll replace it for free. For my machine that does lots of fancy stitches and the warranty I paid around 400 for it all. I took a class where we were learning how to make this quilt with all of these fancy stitches, etc and everyone else in the class had a higher end machine but I was able to make my machine do all that theres would do. There were a couple of things that their machines could do automatically but my teacher showed me how to do it with my machine and my quilt was just as nice as thiers. I now have a top of the line Viking but keep my Kenmore set up as well and when my embroidery machine is going and I want to mult task I use the Kenmore. Good luck on your search. Don't forget to check out the warranty on the machine.

Prism99

Unfortunately, Sears no longer sells Kenmore sewing machines. For quite a few of the last years that Kenmore machines were sold, they were re-branded Janome machines. But, those days are over.