Date: 3/14/10 5:11 PM

Need some help here! I've been looking at Embroidery machines for days and I need your opinion. I have narrowed the choices down to two brands...Janome and Brother. Janome's 9500 and 9700. From what I can see the major difference in the two models is that the 9700 has a color touchscreen and a handful more of built-in designs. Both models require additional software if I want to create my own designs (which I do....sometime down the road once I figure out how to operate it). I like the easy feature of switching between sewing and embroidery.
I will be using the machine for garment creations not so much for quilting. Having a good/easy buttonhole maker and zipper foot is also important.
Needing to plug the computer in or use a ATA PC card/USB makes no difference to me. I work out of my home studio with a laptop on my desk right next to the sewing machines.
Mentioned earlier that I'm also interested in a Brother machine. I currently own two (LS2125i and 1034D serger). Their nothing fancy but seem to get the job done. I'm very happy with the brand. Can you recommend a model similar to the 9500/9700? Having the Disney designs would be a plus. My two daughters love EVERYTHING about Disney!!!

My budget is up to $3,000. I'd like to stay under that amount to have extra spending money on threads and other supplies. Please help!!!! Jen

Reply to DaintyGirlBoutique
Date: 3/15/10 1:52 AM

There are some reviews here on the Janome 9700 but I have a thought for you, how about two machines? I bought a Brother QC-1000 for sewing and a Brother PE-750D(D for Disney) for embroidery for under $2500. There is the newer PE-780D with a few extra built-in designs besides the Disney ones.

Date: 3/15/10 2:24 AM

I think the Janome 9700 is a nice machine. The only qualm I would have is the future availability of the PC cards & reader/writer . I say this because I have the Brother Ult and it takes floppies!Do you know how hard it is to come by floppy disks these days? If only someone could come up with a floppy to USB stick conversion--like the the thingy that you could attach your cd player to your cassette player in your car or similar, they could probably make a million dollars!
I know the PC cards and writers can be found on Ebay for the Janome. But the new USB stick machines ARE nice. The only problem is finding them (sticks)that are not so big--meaning hold so much. Do you want to try and look through a gazillion designs?
The Disney feature on the Brothers are nice because that enables you to use the Disney cards in them.
Personally I like the 2 machine idea except for the small monochrome screen on the emb machines. I am spoiled with my ULT!

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Bernina 1630, Brother ULT 2002D, PE Design 8.0, BES Lettering, Janome CoverPro 1000, Babylock Eclipse SX, Singer 15-91, Janome 1600PDB, Kenmore 19110 (long story), Remington Japanese Clone "BlueBelle"