I have a Brother Innovis 900D... it's eh, OK. Not worth what I paid for it. I keep spending $89 to get it serviced because it's kind of, well, junk! Next time it's Bernina or equivalent for me. It only does a 4x4 hoop which is very small. I couldn't even do my cousin's 4 letter name in the big letters, it wouldn't fit. The medium letters that are built in are small and there are only like 4 fonts.
The software is that part that is expensive. If you want to create your own designs (even names with different fonts) you need special software that starts in the thousands of dollars. The cheaper programs don't let you change stitch lengths or manually digitize and what happens is you end up creating a design (like a logo) with either too few or too many stitches in one spot, ruining your shirt. The one nice thing is that you can BUY fonts or designs and transfer them onto the machine with the USB cable. That's what I have done. It works OK. It's still a very small image and hooping it isn't easy. Embroidery thread is $$$$ (like $5/spool) and stabilizer and all that extra stuff adds up. I spent another $200 just on all that other stuff.
With sewing machines, it's very much "get what you pay for" The best ways to save are to get a floor model from a dealer or a vintage model that was made before they went plastic. But even a used (good) computerized embroidery machine is going to be thousands of dollars. They have a good resale market, and since they sell for $1000-8000, resale at even 50% off is pricey. Try Craigslist though, you never know what you will find! |