Calling Janome 6600 owners

Those of you who have purchased a Janome 6600 in the past year or so, please let me pick your brains.

  1. How much did you pay? What did you get "extra" with the machine?

  1. Is your machine tough enough to go a full year of fairly heavy use before needing a service?

  2. Would you buy it again?

  1. If not, what machine in the same price range would you recommend?

  2. If you already had another machine with all the extra stitches for piecing, would you still buy the 6600 or would you get a fast, mechanical straight stitch machine for quilting?

Ok, as you can see, I'm getting ready to do something stupid. But my husband told me to fix the problem of having my machine fixed every few months. He said to stop spending repair money and buy another machine.

I'm just confused about what to do. I'm torn between a Janome 6600 and the 1600 or the Juki that is comparable to the 1600.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr -- I can never make decisions. I really feel like whatever decision I make I will regret. So I would like to get all the data possible.

Thanks, Sunny

Reply to
Sunny
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Hi Sunny-

  1. I traded a 3 y.o. Janome 4800 and paid 0 cash with the trade- that doesn't tell you much, I know. After I made my best deal I insisted he throw in the Accu-Feed 1/4 in. seam foot, the ruffler and the straight stitch plate- he grumped and complained, but he did it. That said, I buy a new Janome every three years, so he's sold a LOT of sm's to me and knows he will sell me more in the future!

  1. My dealer gives 3 yrs. of free service- as often as you wish- with each machine sold. That said, mine is about 16 mo. old and I've had it serviced twice. I do clean it and oil it very religiously in-between services. I use my machine hard in spurts and starts. I will often sew for 14-16 hrs. non-stop when facing a deadline. I just finished piecing and quilting and binding a king-sized Warm Wishes in a week.

  2. Heavens YES!!! I LOVE this machine! It's the perfect quilter's machine IMNSHO

  1. Zip

  2. I don't do speed for speed's sake. The 6600 goes plenty fast for me- I
*like* accuracy which doesn't mix well with great speed. Even for long straight borders or sewing multiple strip sets, I am just fine with it's speed. For FM quilting, I set the speed control at just over 1/2 speed. That's perfect for me to coordinate my hands and the sandwich movement. I love the little hearts stitch for tacking baby/children's quilts. I like the alphabet and the other stitches but don't use them a lot. It sews a GREAT satin stitch which is something I do very often as well as the buttonhole stitch- it has quite a few variations on the buttonhole stitch. And the width and length adjustments are in very small increments to get exactly the combination you want and need. One thing I LOVE is that I can go full speed with the Accu-Feed engaged. With a walking foot I couldn't do that cuz it would loosen the screw that holds the needle in place and I'd have a heart attack when the needle fell out! Someone here always gripes about the 'clunky' feet on the 6600- not a problem. The feet for use with the Accu-Feed are larger than it's 'regular' feet- which it uses, too. BUT those bigger Accu-Feed feet are still a LOT smaller that a walking foot and it takes about 1.5 Seconds to engage the Accu-Feed. I seldom am not using the Accu-Feed except for FM quilting.

Good luck in making a decision!

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

Reply to
Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

I think I've had mine 2 years now.

$1,495. Came with the standard extension table and feet. Dealer threw in the gathering foot.

It has. I did have a circuit board problem but that was fixed under warranty.

Absolutely

Just remember that Janome makes Elna machines too. So, if you hate Janome......

Actually I had the Elna Quilters Dream (all the stitches) and the Brother 1500 (more space, fast straight stitch) but this machine was the best of both worlds. I use the Elna to take to classes. Haven't used any of my other machines since I bought the 6600.

Regarding the problems you've been having. When you say your bobbin "jumps" do you mean your clear plastic thread bobbin or the case that holds the bobbin? There actually shouldn't be much room for your bobbin to move vertically. Some of the people on the yahoo group for Janome

6500/6600 who have had the problem have discovered that they were not using the correct Janome bobbins for the machine. Double check that one because the bobbins can look quite similar.

For other people who've been having what they perceive as a jumping bobbin problem it's really been that the needle thread has jumped out of the take up lever. Threading the lever from left to right (so the thread crosses itself) has solved that problem for everyone on the list who was having it.

If it's the case that is jumping it is likely a worn out spring. That's a very easy fix for a good sewing machine mechanic.

marcella

Reply to
Marcella Peek

Sunny, You will get lots of different replies. There are at least a half dozen folks here that run 6600's. I would encourage you to sign up to the Yahoo group for 6500 and 6600's:

  1. 99 +tax with the wheeled trolley thrown in. (not a real bargain)
  2. No
3.NO
  1. I think I am like John, I prefer a mechanical machine. YOu might go back and read his msg. on machines not long ago.
5.definitely go for the larger harp,faster straight stitch machine.

My biggest problem with the 6600 is the Janome company itself. My machine has a bad controller. The shop I bought it from went under so I basically have no labor warranty. To get my controller replaced I need to drive an hour away to the next dealer and pay for the shipping on a new controller. If they don't have one there I need to pay and then make a return trip to collect it. I said forget it. SO instead when my new machine does not stop I unplug the controller from the machine head and it stops. It is intermittent so nearly impossible to know when it will happen. The folks in NJ at Corporate were less than helpful. I was pretty surprised at the rotten attitude. I had been warned by other unhappy Janome buyers but was unlucky to have to find out for myself.

The 6600 is slower than the 1500 or 1600 stitches per machines. I think it tops out at 1000. (I don't get a consistent speed since my controller is wacky so it is tough to judge the exact difference) I have a Brother 1500 and it really was a wonderful machine. I should have just stuck with that but I wanted the buttonhole type appliqué stitch. I think just about all the big companies have larger ss quilt type machines out now but Bernina. Try all that you can. Unless you are running over a lot of pins or breaking needles you should not need a lot of service on a machine. Even though I am not thrilled you might enjoy a 6600. Lots of folks do. I wish I was one of them.

HTH, Taria

Sunny wrote:

Reply to
Taria

I have also heard that there are a few problems with the 6600. Most people love their machines, and wouldn't use another mfgrs machine on a bet. That being said, the few problems that are out there, point out the inconsistencies of all sewing machines. They are great if they are working but they are the devil, if they are off. Your problem sounds like a mechanical one with the bobbin. I don't know the fix, but the online support groups mentioned are often a great source of information. Somebody has gone through the problem you have, whatever it is, and has come up with a fix. I personally had problems with a Bernina computerized sewing machine that almost put me off of them. I traded it in on another, better computerized Bernina, and have not had any problems. The machines I prefer are mechanical, and they are the ones I use most often. There is one less group of items to go wrong when you use a mechanical machine. The trade off is that you don't usually have the vastly greater number of stitches and features that are available on computerized machines. They are what I started sewing on, so I am comfortable with the choices they offer. If you started on later model machines, and you utilize all of the multitude of stitches and features on them, then you might find mechanical machines limiting, when it comes to features. Life is full of compromises. I don't think I could live with one machine that supposedly does it all. I know that in the machinery world. multi-purpose machines are at best a compromise that do done of the various things that they do as well as a dedicated single purpose machine does. That, at least, has been my experience with machine tools for woodworking, and other shop skills, and I believe that it applies to sewing machines, as well. If you would look inside a modern sewing factory, you would see various dedicated single purpose machines, doing one thing and then passing the item on to the next machine operator. If it would be more efficient to do it otherwise, then they would do it. I think that speaks volumes as to the suitability of single purpose machines. The only thing that makes the multi-purpose machines viable, is if cost or space is a consideration. There again, the rule of life being full of compromises takes over.

Reply to
John

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I wonder if this is an instance where one of these would be useful? I'm a gadget nut and tried to order these from another vendor but when I told her I had a Bernina, she said not to bother, I wouldn't need it. Perhaps Sunny does.

Reply to
KJ

Little Genie Magic Bobbin Washers These slick space age washers eliminate the backlash in the bobbin when changing directions at high speed. Backlash creates "birds nests" in free-motion quilting and embroidery. Just drop a Little Genie in the bobbin case and replace bobbin. Fits longarm and domestic machines. Designed by author, teacher and award winning quilter Sharon Schamber.

The "changing directions at high speed" caught my eye. Maybe this really could help Sunny.

Reply to
KJ

Sunny, By all mean get the 6600. I had the same problem my old machine died. The machine cost close to $2,000 but they had more in there for more $$ so for what you get it's a nice machine. I got the plastic table...bed or whatever they call it with mine. Janome is a very heavy machine. I finished my son's denim quilt on it no problem. Martha Stewart also had a new Singer Curvy on her show the other day that looked nice as well.

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this machine doesn't look bad for the money. Martha use the pink one. Pami

Reply to
Pami

It's funny isn't it, but there does seem to be a huge element of randomness in sewing machines. I haven't used a Janome 6600, but I do have a near bottom of the range Janome, I moaned about it a lot, but the moans weren't actually to do with the machine, just that I wanted stuff it didn't have, so the fact it sewed a great stitch on stretch fabric was rarely of use to me, it had no features of use to a quilter, but I was able to use it sucessfully, I initially said I wouldn't buy another Janome, but when I analysed it further, I realised it was the features not the manufacturer that was the problem. I ended up buying a brother, mostly because of the location of the shop and the excellent service I've had their (they were able to get bulbs for my Janome, even though they don't sell Janome and I needed european ones, not US ones and with no fuss whatsoever, they had them in the store within 48hours, with no work on my part). The brother hasn't been as good as I had hoped, and has needed to be replaced, but again, I can't fault the store, I'd buy another machine from them, just not a Brother! Anne

Reply to
Anne Rogers

I saw those too and wondered if anybody'd tried them. But - if we Berninacs don't need it, okay. Does make sense though. Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther

Reply to
Taria

Yes the Bernina bobbin cases have the hole in the little arm for passing the thread through. It does seem to help in certain applications like Embroidery.

John

Reply to
John

Yes, the newer Bernina's have the bobbin holder with the hole in the arm. I got a second bobbin case on E-Bay so I could have one to adjust. I have it but haven't done anything with it yet.

Reply to
Lenore L

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