I work at a local dealership, selling machines/software and do training on both. The dealer carries Viking, Pfaff, Brother and Elna. The max on the Viking is 14 inches by 6.9, the 6 needle Brother machine (identical to Babylock, made by Brother) doesn't look all that large, but I like the screen and different input methods. The new Pfaff Creative Vision has a hoop that looks about as large as our jacket back and is a cool machine, but running a sample with a 31k stitch design took almost 3 hours! I calculated the stitch speed and it averaged out to 400 stitches/minute most of the time. UGH! I don't care to spend that much time watching for the next color change. I came home and turned on my Amaya, ran some designs and thought, THIS I can do! LOL! The little 4 needle Melco machine looks identical to the Janome 4 needle machine, I wonder who makes it for who? Melco for Janome or the other way around. A gal at the local Janome dealership said they had one, had problems with it and the tech at Janome could not get it fixed and said don't waste their time ordering another. One day when I have more work, I will definitely get another Amaya, maybe an XT! JMHO. BTW, for those of you having problems threading needles, go to your local Janome or Elna dealer and get their needle threader. You put your thread across the front of the gadget, slide it down the front of your needle and when it gets to the eye, a little metal piece pushes the thread through the eye. Handy for my now 50 year old eyes! Edna Khalifeh Etched In Thread www.etchedinthread.com Ebay ID: etchedinthreadembroidery -----Original Message----- From: amayausers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:amayausers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of stitcher Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 5:47 PM To: amayausers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [SPAM] [amayausers.com] Re: Need advice Yep, I've looked at them. If I'm going to spend that kind of money, for a few thousand more I can have my large designs. I have a Viking SE, Bernina 200, Singer XL-6000. I've got the biggest fields out there on the smaller-type machines. I need a 16 x 19 field. I've looked at the Happy machine and the Janome. They are still the smaller fields. Pfaff came out with a new machine that has a really large hoop, but you have to split the design. So, that's not the answer either. Thank you for your help. Kelley ----- Original Message ----- From: "K Nehmer" <nehmer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <amayausers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 12:48 PM Subject: [amayausers.com] Re: Need advice > Have you looked at the Babylock or Brother 6 needle machines. A step up > from home embroidery (I run a business with mine), but not quite as large > (read expensive) as the XT. =========================================================== The AmayaUsers Mailing List Website: http://www.amayausers.com Discussion Board: http://www.amayausers.com/boards Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://www.amayausers.com/list ===========================================================