14637✽
This question is for those who have a multi-needle machine. My husband surprised me today and asked me to get all the information I could about multi-needle embroidery machines- Pros-cons. What can they do that is an improvement over my Husq Ruby? I have never really done any research into what there is or what to look for or even where to start. Any advice would be helpful.
2/7/18 Update. I got to play with a Valliet, and Intrepid, Bmp8 and BMP6 today. The BMPs are used with very few hours on them. Wondering about thoughts on buying used. There isn't much of a warranty on them but the owner of the shop said their experience with the multi needles is that they need very little service except for regular maintenance. Do you find this to be true? Makes me wonder as most are saying good service is a must.
Comments (8)
66927✽
13243✽
Find a really good service technician as local to you as possible. My most recent technician is 1&1/2 hours away but so worth it. Too many disasters and dodgy fixups with anyone more local has meant i needed to go elsewhere.
Have a play with a multineedle before you decide which one to buy. Do not be in a rush. Go to several dealers if necessary including ones that sell industrial machines. They sometimes have good used machines for a bargain.
Try and get an extra set of hoops thrown in the deal too. You will be grateful later
These machines are heavy and bigger than you realise so a dedicated table on wheels is very helpful. Plus they have room for storage. Oh and plenty of room in your sewing area 😁
Good luck in your desision.
Have a play with a multineedle before you decide which one to buy. Do not be in a rush. Go to several dealers if necessary including ones that sell industrial machines. They sometimes have good used machines for a bargain.
Try and get an extra set of hoops thrown in the deal too. You will be grateful later
These machines are heavy and bigger than you realise so a dedicated table on wheels is very helpful. Plus they have room for storage. Oh and plenty of room in your sewing area 😁
Good luck in your desision.
115778✽
by
asterixsew
06 Feb 2018
+6✽
I have a Brother PR650. Space in a room to put the machine. Good service or someone who will answer questions on the phone. You will need wider stabiliser, I bought loads of 5000m reels of thread and my machine uses pre wound bobbins. I need space by my machine to park my laptop as the designs are downloaded to the machine. My big machine gives me a huge amount of fun but it was a huge and steep learning curve. My machine is used for fun not as a commercial enterprise. My machine was the dealers demo and hadn't done much mileage and as a result sold as used. This is something I always suggest to people. Have fun doing your research but as I regularly stress here after support is essential as I reminded Cuties a few weeks ago when I met someone who bought online and has no support and needs to replace something broken.
1 comment
Ok. I'm hearing that good service is essential. Do you have to service it often or just routine maintenance?
64451✽
If you are planning on doing a lot of embroidery multi-needle machines are terrific. It works much faster than your Husq (I have this machine as well but do not use it for embroidery anymore) better quality stitch out and much larger hoop options. My largest hoop is 16.75'' x 16.75''. Great for large design combinations. I have the Happy 15 needle machine and have not had one problem with it. I love my machine and it has changed my creativie life options. You can produce so much faster.
It is expensive and takes a room with solid flooring, is a bit noisy (I wear earplugs) but I have never made a better decision as I think I would not be embroiderying anymore because I had numerous problems with Husq machines.
Good luck with your decisiob but take your time, it is a big investment.
Michelle
It is expensive and takes a room with solid flooring, is a bit noisy (I wear earplugs) but I have never made a better decision as I think I would not be embroiderying anymore because I had numerous problems with Husq machines.
Good luck with your decisiob but take your time, it is a big investment.
Michelle
1 comment
Thank you. Good things to know. I love my Husq. but like you said, it takes awhile - especially the larger designs, that I am starting to like doing!
318555✽
by
dragonflyer
06 Feb 2018
+4✽
I have the new BabyLock Valiant 10 needle machine...I bought it last summer and love it. Make sure you have good dealer support for any service or repair...these are big machines and take up more room than you might think. They are a bit noisier than your combination sewing and embroidery machine...It is much faster to stitch out a design or project. I was concerned about doing ITH projects and quilts, but that has not been a problem at all. I got the large wide table with mine and all the hoops that are made for it, including the hat hoop. I have found you get a much better deal if you get EVERYTHING there is at the time you purchase your machine as it will be MUCH less expensive. Do your homework and try them out. I did not have a learning curve at all with the Valiant...I find it very user friendly. Good luck and keep us posted!
1 comment
When I spoke with the only dealer in the area yesterday, he mentioned the Valiant. Hopefully, I can try them out in the next few days. I did not dawn on me that there would be different hoops and such. Also sounds like I also need to budget for different threads and stabilizer as well. Thank you.
261163✽
by
basketkase
06 Feb 2018
+5✽
I have a 16 needle Melco Bravo and it is great......as others have said check to see who might service the machine, my closest guy is an hour away but so worth it.......you get to know your tech really well, mine spends 1/2 day with me once a year for regular maintenance, plus he answers any questions I have had for the past year....if you think you may want to start doing hats, make sure your machine comes with a hat hooping system.........my largest hoop is 17x15 and is a must for full jacket backs...if you digitize or want to start digitizing, make sure it comes with a nice software package for that.....good luck with your search and whichever you choose, you will love not having to change colors all the time.....
2 comments
A dealer I spoke to yesterday praised the Melco. Of course he was from Texas and I am in Michigan. He did say that they would provide training and servicing included in the price. You just brought up something else to think about - design format. All my designs are VP3. I did save the other formats in a zipped file, but it will take some time to unzip the different format. I do like the sound of faster and not changing colors all the time.
I have a Melcom 4-needle. I thought myself too old to justify the Bravo. I use the EP-4 for all the designs that need only 4 colours (and prefer using that restriction when digitizing). I agree with all the others: a good technician is a must. I too have a collection of 3000 and 5000 m cones, but for not too often used ones the 1000m ones are perfect too. The larger ones are more economic of course, but the perewound bobbins are more expensive than winding your own.
As the industrial machines have hoops supported at two sides and the hoops themselves are sturdier the embroidery results are better than on the Ruby, especially for heavy materials and larger hoop sizes.
All things considered I'd rather buy a Bravo than the Brother dreammachine or the newest top class Pfaff or Husq.
As the industrial machines have hoops supported at two sides and the hoops themselves are sturdier the embroidery results are better than on the Ruby, especially for heavy materials and larger hoop sizes.
All things considered I'd rather buy a Bravo than the Brother dreammachine or the newest top class Pfaff or Husq.
169064✽
I agree that a good service tech is vital. And be sure to buy whatever multi-needle you decide on from a reputable dealer. Some of the features I love about having a multi-needle is I thread all 10 needles and then get to either watch the machine do its thing or stitch on another machine. You will find it so easy to place and remove the hoop and doing things like onsies and bags are easy peasy. You will even be able to work easily on much larger projects too. The only drawback I ever see and it's not a big deal is that I don't do multi-color FSL on it. I have been advised by a couple of techs to use only pre-wound bobbins. Other techs say it's OK but I err on the side of being safe. I know everyone will say their brand of machine is the best and I'm no different. But all will do the job. the most important is to have the service tech. Let us know what you decide so we can celebrate with you.
1 comment
Thank you so much for your advice. I've been debating on checking out two other dealers in the area until I read your response. I had not heard of them until I did a search. They may be okay but I guess I don't want to take that chance.
109788✽
I'm sorry I am no help with the multi-needled machines. However, I have to say 'Yipee! Congratulations, etc'.If my husband would encourage me to shop for a bigger machine, that would be a surprise!-lol
2 comments
It was quite the surprise for me! Sunday he was watching me work on a wall hanging and asking lots of questions about what I was doing. Somehow we ended up discussing the multi-needle machines. I thought that was the end of that but he called me from work on Monday asking me to get more information on them! He's been very supportive of my embroidery. He bought my current machine out of the blue as well. We had been at the local Home and Garden Show and stopped at one of the local sewing center booths to look at the machines. Two days later he told me to pick out an embroidery machine. He said that he had not seen me smile like that ( when looking at the embroidery machines) in a long time. I had been very ill for several years prior to that. God gave me a very good husband.
Yes, he did, as well as me. Mine just never made big bucks!-lol