I am 90% sure I am going to be buying a Sapphire 870 and would love some more feedback from those of you who own one to help me make a final decision.

I have the Sapphire830 (same arm length but not quite as many stitch variations etc. and was cheaper). I love it. I use the needle down position most of the time and do not really mind that it doesn't have the foot lift feature other than on the screen. Of course this is the first machine that had even that feature that I have used consistently so do not really miss what I never had.

My only complaint about the Sapphire is that no matter how I set the tension, it tends to draw the top thread to the back on some of the decorative stitches. When I complained to the sewing machine man he said it was built that way because most people don't see the back of the stitching as it is inside the quilt sandwich. I tried to explain thread painting and Melinda Bula's style to him and he just didn't get it. Maybe I can win the lottery so I can afford a better machine for that kind of work so for now all my thread painting has to use the same color on top and bottom threads and I do not always want that. But I make do. Ann

I've been a Baby Lock user for years but, when I decided to get a machine with extra room in the opening for machine quilting, I bought the Husqvarna Saphhire, a very nice machine in terms of features, sewing ability, and the extra room when machine quilting is wonderful. However, I can't get used to the lack of a lever to lift the foot! It's controlled using the up/down buttons or by the foot pedal. For me, when piecing, this makes it harder to position the fabric where I want it; eyeballing it or using the needle doesn't cut it. One suggestion that helped was to purchase a new throat plate marked in inches (it comes with metric markings). Does anyone else have a problem with this machine or others that don't have the lift lever? How have you handled the adjustment? Thanks.