I have own 3 different makes, and "driven" 5. The only machine(s) I have not worn out, or broken completly,are the Husquvarna Viking machines. They are not cheap...
My first "embrodiery"machine was a Pfaff, which I LOVEed! Till we had a lightening storm in the Calif Desert, and it melted the motherboard..it did not embrodier as we now know it, no hoop, and the info had to be inserted on the machine, loved the walking foot!
My first hoop embrodier machine was an old New Home, now Janome, and wore the bobbin winder motor out in less then a year. They told me, at that time(1990),that I was a Professional, and as such the warrenty was not honored. They have changed this policy, but I am not fond of the Janome sew out....and how they feel when I sew on them.
I then moved to a different state and started looking for a new machine, and we didn't have a good dealer...And I found a GREAT dealer, Sew&Sew in Summerville,SC. The sell Viking and I have only gone through 3 in 19 years. Never broke one past repair! I traded in the first one, got a Designer 1, then DH got me a newer D1,SE that takes a USB stick or can go computer to sewing machine...
I have driven, and broken, every single Berina I touch, and I know one of there National Educaters...broke one at a big Natl quilt show, it was straight out of the box, she tested it, I sat down, it broke. However, I have friends that LOVE them. Some people can't drive a Chevy, some can't drive a Ford...
I have tested Elna's, not what I wanted...
Which ever one you get you will need to spend more then you think you do. And I say that because once you start to work with these machines you want one that will do MORE! And it costs$$$ to upgrade, inless you have a good dealer.
So...
Find a good dealer, one that has a good repair person, and test drive the machines. Take a class there with their machines, if you can. Do this with every different type of machine you think you like...
And remember that a good machine will let you do your own designs. I have several programs, and I do NOT own or use the program that is sold by the maker of my machine...
And if you want or NEED Disney designs to embrodier then you have to buy the cards from Brother. They have machines, but I think they are clunky, I did just see the new cards with designs on them...the run $89.99 to $190. for each card with a dozen or 2 dozen designs on them...I can use the cards and import them into my new software and then convert them to use with my machine...but what a chore!!!
So I bought the Floriani software, after a demo, saved 60%, and Walter Floriani used to do the digatazing for Disney!!! RNK sells the program, it works with all machines...They do NOT have Disney designs...but they do have a great tool that will let you import outlines and make your own designs!
So if you had a comic book with designs....or if you had one of the drawing kits sold at WDW that teach you how to draw characters...you could do your own designs.
So it comes down to this,- how much can you spend? Do you have a dealer close? How often will you really use the embrodiery part of the machine? (thread cost, stablizer,and hoops cost tons!)
Hope this helped. As I said I love my Viking machine, but if I had the $$ and a dealer I would get a Pfaff also.
And finally, a lot of machines are owned/made by the same company. Pfaff is part of Husquvarna/Viking, and I have read that they now own Singer. And there are several other companies that are jointly owned...it all takes research, and test driving!
Good luck, sorry this was so long!
