Thanks Terry. Your work, as always, is wonderful and I love keeping up with it. As to Berninas, in this case I don't think this is a beta test machine. I know the 830 had a hard time in the beginning, and they should have used a heavier beta testing for it before releasing it, but by the time I bought mine..an 830 LE..they had fixed the majority of the problems. I have used mine nearly every day since I purchased it 4 and a half years ago, had it maintained only twice during that time, and it has worked wonderfully for me up until last week when it went kaput. The last three years, especially, I have run it hard and fast and long. I probably put as much sewing on it as I did in 15 or 20 years on my older machine if not more. My old Bernina 1230 has been around since I purchased it in 1990, when it was the top of the line. I sewed heavily on it most weekends (I was working and traveling a heavy schedule at that time), and some evenings and vacations, until I bought a 200E, at which time it became my backup machine. I have only had it maintained once (but I have kept it clean and oiled). It still runs well. I bought the B350 early in 2012, or maybe it was in December 2011, when I bought Gibbs for my then new full time retirement fabric arts career, because I needed a light machine to carry to classes and the like. It has never had really hard use, and I love the way it sews, but it is little. I really believe that Berninas are still the best, even though many people are frustrated with the more advanced pricey machines that are really computers with mechanics, which are almost certainly not as sturdy as a mostly mechanical machine. I do hope it is repairable to run another few years because I really use the functions of the 8 series Berninas. If they can repair it for a reasonable amount, I can go ahead and purchase a sit down longarm. Otherwise, I will have to figure out what the blinkety-blank I am going to do, because I have become kind of dependent on it.
