Brother Designio Series DZ820E Embroidery Machine with bonus embroidery hoops (4x4 inch and 2.5x1 inch), a starter kit and a CD with 200 bonus embroidery designs - more than a $200 value

I am new to machine embroidery and took a chance on this one after a lot of internet and dealer inquiry. I LOVE IT! It is easy to use, easy to thread, sturdy, and comes with a lot of accessories. It is like the 770PE except for a new body look and the accessories, which do add up if you were to buy them separately.The built in designs are just so-so. One reviewer complained that the satin stitch isn't dense enough. Well, I've used this long enough and on enough products to know that it all depends upon the quality of the deisgn. I have been pretty unimpressed with the Brother designs (and iBroidery designs are VERY expensive) so have gotten many new ideas from Embroidery Library.I have embroidered on terry towels, denim, sweatshirt fabric, flour sack dishtowels, quilting fabric, linen. The trick to a beautiful embroidery job is the combo of stabilizer and fabric.As for thread, I bought the Embroidex set of 63 "Brother Colors" with a spool holder. I am pleased with these and saved a lot of money. They are equal to or better than the thread that came with the machine. What comes with the machine are a set of Brother primary colors plus white and black, and embroidery thread. The Brother threaded bobbins gave me trouble so I bought the 144 set from another seller and those have been perfect. No problems.This machine can not do anything larger than 5X7 so unless you buy a software program like Embrilliance you won't be able to use anything bigger. If you have the software you can shrink it to fit the sewing field.I bought the Embrilliance Thumbnailer software so the actual design picture shows up on my mac. Otherwise it is just a file name and hard to manage. I take the PES files I want to use and put them into a file on a little thumb drive. Then I am ready to go! I don't use embroidery cards or hook it directly to my computer. But you will need a computer if you plan to download designs.It is not hard to thread. You just have to push the lever down firmly, like you mean business! Threads every time. If you buy thread on cones you will need a thread stand. I bought a ten spool holder and it works great. It also makes the job faster because all the needed threads are ready to go. The machine is only set up to take spools like Sulky or any spool that has a cap on top and bottom. Otherwise the thread tangles.Problems I have had - have ALWAYS been operator error. Either I have the wrong kind of stabilizer, or wrong needle size, or the thread had hung up somewhere. This is my first embroidery machine and of course things go wrong, but they are not the fault of the machine. Just so you know! It is not hard to fix mistakes if you catch them in time. Just practice and practice and it will become easy.The light is bright and it is easy to see the field. The instruction book is easy to follow. 5 x 7 is a very nice-sized field - I can't imagine needing to do anything bigger than that unless I wanted to do the back of an adult jacket. I'm very pleased with this machine and am SO GLAD I did not buy from a dealer, or buy Babylock, which would have cost twice as much. Brother and Babylock are made in the same factory and have the same features. Do the math!Accessories: You will need stabilizer of every kind. Temporary spray glue is very useful too. I'd say get the big box of prewound bobbins. I love those. Have an assortment of embroidery and sharp needles. Success depends a lot on getting the right needle for the job. As I mentioned above, the spool holder is great if you have spools.I highly recommend this embroidery machine to a beginner who feels she/he doesn't need a lot of classroom time to learn a new machine. There is a learning curve but for me it has been all fun. If you have a big embroidery machine and need a spare, this one is good quality at a good price. I'd give it ten stars if I could.

Works perfectly for my embroidery needs. Very durable and sturdy.

This is my first ever embroidery machine. I was a little hesitant to purchase this machine based on some negative reviews about tension setting, etc. But, there were a lot of positive reviews as well and I really really wanted an embroidery machine that would be easy to use and wasn't overly expensive. I was ecstatic when this machine arrived so that I could begin my projects right out of the box! Set up was a breeze! The hoops in came in 3 different sizes and the pre-wound bobbins were nice to have. The thread that was included was all of the primary colors and it came with an entire spool of white bobbin thread. Threading the machine was super easy, although you need to be a little careful near the thread uptake as there's a little plastic piece that the thread can get caught on. The automatic threader is very accurate, but don't forget to put your foot down before trying to thread! LOL... I've done that several times and thankfully I haven't broke the threader! My first project worked out great and was thrilled with how easy it was to use right out of the box. However, after that first project, something had happened... after that project, all of my stitching started birdnesting at the bottom, the thread would shred, and it just would not complete a project without messing up. I thought for sure I had broken it and would need to return it. I was VERY frustrated and thought about throwing the machine out of the window at one point!! LOL Thankfully, I was persistent and did some online research. If found a YouTube video that showed how to take off the side cover of the machine to clean out the uptake to make sure that there was no thread that had been broken off there.... Took off the cover and found a HUGE ball of thread... No wonder it wasn't working correctly. I also checked the bobbin area and cleaned that out so that there was not a single piece of thread in the bobbin case which can cause inaccuracies in the embroidery. I changed the needle just in case it had bent. I adjusted the upper thread tension, and I also tightened the bobbin tension a little bit (instructions are in the book on how to do this and it's easy to do). Although my projects got a little better after doing all of the above, it still was not 100%, and still was birdsnesting under the material. Finally, I went back online and read some more tips and tricks to help with embroidery, I purchased some Sharp embroidery needles as well as some Sewers Aid.... NOW IT'S WORKING PERFECTLY!!!!!! The Sewers Aid has been a lifesaver and I put it on every single spool I use in the embroidery project and the needle has stood up to several projects, including tshirts, towels, bibs, blankets and so much more! This machine is really easy to set up for projects and I really like the USB feature as you can download so many more embroidery designs. I would recommend this embroidery machine. While it's not perfect, it is really easy to use and the projects come out really nice and clean. If you are having problems with tension, birdsnesting, jumped stitches, etc., don't throw it out the window, google the problem and try to work to resolve it as it is really worth it!!!! I've attached just a few of the projects I have completed with this machine :)

We originally bought this a few months ago to do embroidery for our grandson. We discovered both my husband and I enjoy decorating all sorts of things from baby clothes to towels to quilt blocks to polo shirts and beyond.The machine is nicely set up and is fairly intuitive. My only real caution is that when replacing the needle be sure to put a piece of paper below the needle or you can lose it into the base of the machine (we turned it upside down and gently shook it to get the needle back out - don't want to do that again.)The image on the screen is not that detailed so be sure to "know" which design you are using by file name. Threading is really easy once you have done it a time or two - it gets to the point of being routine and not having to think about it. I like that the machine comes with a variety of hoops so you don't have to waste fabric and backing on a larger hoop than you needIt is so much fun that I am sure that we will want a larger machine some years in the future. Our experience with the Brother brand on this machine is so great that we will definitely move up with Brother in the future.