if viking embroidery machines are so great....

then why do I always see so many for sale on ebay?
Do people get bored with the embroidery or feel guilty about the money
they spent? It seems as though Viking/Husqvarna users are always
upgrading...why is that?
Along the same lines, I bought an HV Iris used a couple months ago to
try machine embroidery. Now that I know I like it, I've become
frustrated by the additional expense of purchasing cards or an Amazing
Box and the additional software such as Embird. I've figured that it
will take an additional $425++ to buy the Amazing Box II (with card
included) and the basic Embird. This is more than what I spent on the
machine. So I'm at a standstill...do I sell the machine and use the
money to buy a better "used" machine with a card reader and different
media format included, as well as a bigger embroidery field? The
cards that the Iris takes are hard to find (my dealer would have to
special order any collections and would probably charge me $160 each--
and I haven't found one I really like on ebay.)
Since I bought accessories for this machine, I thought I'd stay with
Husqvarna...I am more familiar with the models than other brands.
What would be the best choice for someone on a budget of $1500 or so?
I've been watching Designer 1 auctions and they seem to end between
$1,800 - $2,000. Not many Designer II listing include embroidery
modules. The 950E seems like it would suite my needs but again I'd
need a card reader, etc. Which media card is better? I can't afford
a USB type machine. I need to choose between the ones that use
floppies and d-cards.
Also, if a machine uses the 3.5 in floppy disk...are these the same as
any IBM 3.5? Can you just save a design in the necessary format and
then put the disk in your sewing machine?
Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Buy Ultimate Box - it is cheaper and more reliable than Amazing Box (from responses in sewing-embroidery forums). You can buy Embird and Ultimate Box together at - and it will be a bit cheaper (or through one of the agents, like - and may save another $10). And with these all freebies of the internet will be yours! (for beginning just google "free machine embroidery").
Whether you'd like more modern machine with bigger embroidery field is totally up to you, but sometimes limitations of 4x4 field feels a bit frustrating. But you will need some customising software anyway, and it is either a proprietary software (usually more expensive option unless your dealer throws it in with the machine) or Embird (cheaper and a great value for its functionality). Just remember that Embird does not support Bernina's format.
HTH
Tatiana

May I suggest MANY people tend to upgrade because they want THE LATEST toys to play with...so they want to sell the older model. I am on a Viking list and the minute any suggestion of a NEW machine comes up, updated model, the notes fly about how much what will it do etc...and they run to get it. Floppys are floppys. and there are many brands. I have a D1 and get the cheapest floppy I can get.. all they are for is for transfering the design from computer to machine..I don't store on them..I store on cd. If you want to create your own embroidery or edit anything you need the additional software. I use Embird--you CAN get plug ins for Embird on several web sites--go to the Embird home site and review what else you can do..If you only want to download and use as is you don't need anything other than what will get your design to floppy which probably came with your machine. Mary Lou

It depends.
The Brother / Babylock machines work as you describe. You just put your .pes file on the floppy and you're ready to go.
The Viking Designer 1, however, needs that floppy to have a specific file structure, which requires either Viking software or one of the few other programs that can create them. (Sorry, I forget off-hand which ones can do it.)
- Herb

The viking comes with software to handle that...but Embird also now has that capability... ML

For the record I didn't ask that question....someone else did...hmmm Mary Lou

HV embroidery machine is too expensive! Bought the HV Digitizing pro software from ebay but use Singer futuraCE100 instead. It's a great and seamless combination. So I have no complaint.