Happy Voyager

"Jo" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@uni-berlin.de:

We have a Happy Voyager and are very pleased with it. We've had it about 4 or 5 months. The machine is very well built and should hold up well. The cost is about $8000.00. We live in South Carolina and bought ours from a consumer sewing machine dealer who really didn't know a lot about the machine. We have called Texmac (in Charlotte NC) several times and they have always been helpful. We even took the machine up there one day and they replaced a small part while we waited for it.

It is a much heavier duty machine than the consumer machines like the brother which cost almost the same thing. It can handle 12 colors automatically and can accept compact flash cards in a pcmcia (laptop) adaptor. It also has USB and serial connections. It's not a light machine to move! It weighs 90 pounds!

We are a small business which makes custom purses with monogramming as well as monogramming shirts and other small jobs out of our home. The machine has earned enough to pay for itself in the time we have had it.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy it again.

I noticed the 'cap kit' is optional........does this mean you have to buy it separate from the machine? What actually did you get with the purchase price?

Hi: I am still considering the Happy Voyager - but I read a comment that I don't understand as I have never owned an embroidery machine. Could you please explain this comment to me.......this guy loves it and became a rep for Happy. Does the Happy read DST formats? what other formats?

"The only drawback on the Happy (for home embroiderers) is the use of DST format files - once the home embroiderer is past that conceptual shift (not having pre-assigned colors, just color stops) it is a piece of cake."

I wrote the original comments about the happy that you quoted TAP is the Happy format but it will use DST. With DST, you do have to assign the colors using the "Happylink" software which comes with the machine. If you do that, the color changes are automatic.

My wife is the expert on embroidery softwear. She uses the Bernina Artista software to digitize her designs and then sends them to the Happy as DST files. She also uses a Bernina 200 and a 180 machine but the Happy now does the bulk of our embroidery work.

If you have other questions about the machine, send them along and I'll ask her the answers .

"Jo" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@uni-berlin.de:

DST formats? what > other formats?

I tried to email you privately twice, but it returned 'undeliverable'. OK, could you use Embird to convert it to a format that Happy likes besides DST? Obviously, I have a lot to learn yet.......thanks for you patience.

Embird is a nice piece of software! I have purchased it and paid for one upgrade (the rest were free) and I will continue to pay for it as this person deserves the small price asked for it. It is well done and I have suggested changes they have implemented into it.

"Jo" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@uni-berlin.de:

Sorry about the e-mail address. It is not a real one as you found out. I hoped that the fact that it was "null" would let folks know it wasn't real .

I've hear my wife mention Embird and say that she probably would buy it in the future. We don't have it now. (She uses Bernina software as I mentioned) but I see several replies from other folks that indicate Embird would work well with the Happy. That's nice to know.

Does anyone know what the 'Optional Cap Attachment' costs for the Happy Voyager?

"Jo" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@uni-berlin.de:

About $1000.00