I have the designer 1 usb and love it, I can skip colors as I come to them without any problems. I can stop a design at the end of color, shut it down and then resume right where I left off (love that feature), it takes all formats except the bernina one. I also have the 4D 'puter program so I've never really found anything it won't do. I can't (or won't) digitize. I've never done fsl, haven't had the urge just yet, to busy making quilts (giggle) The Ruby is the current model that is comparable to my Designer 1 - Husqvarna, hope this helps a little, just be sure to test drive the machines and ask lots and lots of questions.....

I am not familar with the Brother machine. But I have Babylocks, similar' I have the Ellegante and Elissimo. Both can do all the features that you are looking for and more. Babylocks use the same format(pes) that Brother uses so you would not need to do a thing with your designs. Even though I do not have good support here where we are now living, Babylock has been wonderful when I email them with a question or problem about any of my machines. I wish you well with your research and know you will be happy with the machine you decide on. Oh, check out www.babylock.com. They have a site where you can answer questions and it will tell you the best machine for what you are planning to it for. Might help narrow down the field for you.

I have two Brother multineedles, but I am guessing you are looking for a single needle. If I was buying single needle I would definitely go for the Brother Quattro. It will do all of the things you want, plus it has camera technology for precision placement. One of my multi needles has the camera and it is amazing. This machine retails for around $7,000 Australian so it really depends on how much you want to spend.
Alice.

I have the Janome MC11000SE (I'm also fairly new to machine emb. - never done it before). I can shut it off and go back and resume or stop, switch to reg. and when I go back it will ask if I want to resume. I have skipped a color when emb. as I didn't want that item/word on it.
It has many features, but it also depends on what dealers you have near you and how well they know their machines.
Try some out and good luck.

I have the viking designer1 too, I have done fsl on mine,it does allow you to skip colors, but if the power goes out while it is going you have to advance back to the spot it stopped, I believe the newer vikings remember for you, but don't take my word on it, Now the D1's are work horse sewing machines too. for hoops the smallest hoop I can do is a 1.6x1.6 and largest single hoop is 14x6 the newer vikings go even larger, but the price on those machines are really pricey. D1 were made with floppy disc at first then changed to usb so some were upgraded to the usb others were built with it.
I have the 4D software and it converts just about every format out there for me. my machine takes vip and hus and vip3, but the software changes it to what the machine reads (it actually reads a file called shv) this software does not come with the machine it was a seperate purchase, it did come with a program called disk manager but that only lets you just take a design to the machine and nothing else were the 4D allows me to add rotate and other things to design.




My advice on purchasing any machine would be do you have support in your area for the machine if it goes wacky. I have a great place I can bring my machine were others do not and have to drive for evr to get the machine worked on. Some dealers will not work on some brand of machines, because they can't they aren't authorized too so parts are not available to them. Make sure were you purchase they will work on it too. you do not want to hear OH we have to ship it to the manufacture it's going to take about 1month before it will come back. I ahve heard others say things like my machine has been gone for 3 months. I don't think I could live without my machine for that long.

Good luck in choosing a machine you are doing the smartest thing (homework)!!!!! so you should be very happy with your purchase. I have to say when I bought mine I had no idea of anything did no homework but I would purchase my machine again.

I have the Quattro - which others have noted is a Brother. But the BabyLock Ellisimo is basically the same machine without the Disney. The next level under the Quatto 6000 is the 4500 - which is the ellegante 2. It retails for around $4000 in my area. It does most things like the Quattro/Ellisimo but does not have the camera. The camera (and snowman positioning) is important to some folks but not so important to others. They have USB, can handle FSL, automatically cut jump stitches, restart with power failure, and have large hoops (four different ones available for both). If you have the opportunity to look at a babylock (since brother is not near you) would probably be worth your time.

Once you figure out which one you like, you may want to check into getting a nice used one (more bang for the buck) Sewitsforsale has some really good deals. I purchased my second Bernina Artista 180 there and after selling everything I didn't need or want my Embroidery/Sewing machine only ended up costing me $300.00. The best price you can normally find this machine at is $800.00, so I did really well.