I wanted a travel machine that was small, light weight, and will fit inside a carry-on luggage, while still being a pleasure to sew on and solidly built. Amazon shipped this machine in 3 days and I put it through the paces.
Sewing & Embroidery test)
I was very happy with my test results on utility sewing, decorative stitching, and embroidery. Machine feels solid and of high quality. Bobbin winds better than my $3000 ULT. All tensions were solid performers at the default setting, again better than my ULT. Feed dog seem to have strong traction, even on heavy decorative stitching. Top and bottom fabric fed evenly. Machine had a factory tested seal on the bobbin door, and it felt like it was thoroughly tested, much better than usual even for expensive machines. I am glad I waited so long to buy this, because the SE400 seems much more sturdy than previous similar models from Brother and Janome. My friend had 2 previous models that I tried, and at that time I was not at all happy with them. Those earlier models had felt flimsy. Those machines also weighed a few pounds less, so probably had less metal inside. Slight redesign makes it better than previous models. During embroidery, the non-color screen shows an overall image of the current and next up element, so it's a little easier to see where I am without having a color screen. The snap points where the embroidery hoop attaches has been redesigned to make it easier to operate. I like the bigger bobbin design which holds more bobbin thread. The auto needle threader and thread cutter worked perfectly.
My one qualm is that I smelled burning machine oil after 8 hours of sewing, but there is no place to oil in these new machines. Even a non-oiling machine usually does need oiling in heavy friction areas. I will have to open it up after a month or so to see where it needs oiling and a small amount of lubing. I think it would have been better if the designer had left a few holes where sewing machine oil can be added. They were eliminated in new models to prevent user error, so it's a form of dumming down the design. Traditional machines have holes to add oil after 8 hours of sewing. If you are thinking of oiling, use only sewing machine oil, which evaporates and does not gum up the parts. The embroidery speed had been decreased from 600 stitches per minute in earlier models to 400. So, it takes longer to stitch out the same design. This was probably done to reduce user error, again a form of dumming down. Maximum sewing speed is a little slower, around 700 stitches per minute. This seems adaquate for a portable. I have a Juki quilter's machine that sews 2000 stitches per minute, and I feel a rush when that baby is going, but I only use it for large projects such as a curtain or a sofa cover. Most good home sewing machine speeds are 850 stitches per minute.
Portability)
The machine weighs 19 lbs with all accessories and fits comfortably inside a hardshell carryon 24"x15"x9.5". I attached the embroidery unit and lay it on its side. There is plenty of space for extra sewing tools after all machine accessories are enclosed. I will use towels to wrap the machine and each component so nothing gets scratched during transit, but it's the perfect size. I wanted a combo unit because once I was using a borrowed sewing machine while visiting my brother and found myself wishing I had even the smallest embroidery capability. Therefore, the 4"x4" embroidery field is perfect for that. I have 3 other machines, 2 of them are huge and weigh 45 to 50 lbs. The embroidery attachment and accessories on my ULT are huge too. I used to lug them around when I went to visit my mother-in-law, but it will inevitably get banged against a door or car, because it was so heavy and unwieldy. Now I will be able to travel in style and still get to work on my sewing projects. I am super happy with my purchase.
Long-term durability)
About 10% of users have said that their machines broke down after a couple of months, though they loved the machine while it was working. I was worried about this point and will update in 6 months with my own experience. However, after examining this machine, I feel comfortable that this is a very well made machine. Generally, if you use your machine for a few hours everyday, you will either need to take it to a servicer every 6 months or learn to service it yourself. This is true of all home sewing machines. Service cost of $60-$100 is normal. I service all of my own machines, because I think this cost is outrageous, but you do need to be a mechanically comfortable person to do this. Most important part is to clean out the bobbin/feed dog area thoroughly with q-tips everyday. The race should be oiled every few days with sewing machine oil. Every 1-6 months, you can open up the head and oil or lube friction areas where the vertical metal moving bars touch other gear or shafts. Once a year the bottom plate can be completely removed and all stray thread removed from below the feed dog and feed dog gears can be lubed. Use silicon sewing machine lube for the gears, but don't use too much. Your warranty will be voided when you remove the bottom plate, but you will no longer be covered under full service warranty after one year, so this is no biggie. Your limited warranty should still cover you if the motor or computer part burned out, but it's probably a good idea not to tell the servicer that you opened up your machine if this were to happen all the same. Even so, there are lemons, so I will report back if mine happens to break within 6 months. Happy sewing :-)
Update 9/29/2012 after two months:
Still works really well. Machine feels sturdy. Have transported it in a small suitcase by car, and plan to take it on its first airplane ride. Have finished several sewing and embroidery projects, all came out well. Minor problem with bobbin thread sometimes not locking with top thread during embroidery. Only way to fix it is to remove hoop, manually pull up the bobbin thread about 6", rehoop, then sew slowly while holding the top thread with fingers until threads lock, about 6 stitches. Then continue with embroidery as usual. Another minor problem is that I now have a large burr (groove) on the throat plate at leftmost needle position. I am pretty sure this happened when I was sewing neoprene to make a camera case for a friend. I don't have burrs on any of my other machines even though I sewed on them for many years. I think this machine cannot feed stretch material well, such as neoprene or nylon/lycra sports fabric. I must be pulling the fabric towards the back to coax it to feed because the burr is behind the needle. A solution would be to use a light stabilizer (or tissue paper) under the fabric to provide a little traction for the feed dogs. Embroidery hoop seems too tight and puckers fabric around the embroidery edges, even with cotton. It was much better with hydrostick stabilizer, which does not hoop the fabric. Also the slow embroidery speed of 400 spm instead of 800 spm on my ULT is getting to be a drag. I timed embroidering a flower topiary (14th built in design), which shows 20 minutes sewing time. Actual time to embroider with 8 thread color loadings was 35 minutes, which comes out to 1 minute 52 seconds per thread loading. It may be possible to get thread loading time down to 1 minute if I am less careful. The 20 minutes of sewing time seems accurate. I wish Brother had kept the embroidery stitch speed at 600 as in my small embroidery only machine, PE150. Happy sewing :-)
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Customer Review: I love this machine!
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This was a 1 STAR REVIEW>>>BE SURE TO INSPECT YOUR MACHINE THE MOMENT YOU GET IT.
***Update*** Almost 2 years after purchase! This machine is a great machine! I just recently did embroidery on our kids school shirts with this machine and it came out beautiful, Mario characters, Minecraft etc. Super nice job! I did end up giving this machine to my mom because her regular sewing machine was not working anymore and I now have a Husqvarna Viking embroidery machine but I still love certain features of this machine more and so I missed it when I gave it to my mom and I went and updated and bought an SE625-- I have to say, if you are going to spend this anyway- go for that machine, I cannot even begin how much better it is!!! It has a color touch screen where you can manipulate what you are working on in so many more ways! You can curve text, change colors, sizes, rotate tiny amounts like 10 degrees and it is just amazing, it cam with a CD that contains 200 embroidery designs and not stupid ones either, really nice ones I will actually use-It was only $360 At WMart store!!! I love Brother products! We have a huge color laser printer and it is amazing, I print like mad on there for my business and it just goes with it flawlessly. These embroidery machines are the best in My Personal Opinion. I love my Husqvarna, it does a lot of very different & beautiful stitches, the online software the machine came with is great and most importantly and the very reason I got it was because it embroiders up to 6 x 10 inch designs; but it was more than 3 times the price and I got the cheapest one they offer, no touch screen, no color on the screen, it is monochrome. And so the best value for the money is absolutely the Brother brand. When I upgrade again, which will probably be in at least 5 years! I will choose a Brother for sure because I feel if they can offer these amazing machines for this price, imagine what you get when you spend more; just how I feel about it. ***The threader on Brother machines is fantastic, it literally Never fails, I fight with my Husqvarna at times, trying 3 or 4 times to get the thread in there with the threader, their threader is a stupid design!***UPDATE!!!*** 1 Year Later after my 1 Star Review...It has been almost exactly a year since the purchase of the SE400. It was a wretched machine to me for a while at first- having the problems it did from being thrown together by whoever put it together (read below)... I wanted to come back and say that my crafty husband that he is, looked online for a complete repair manual on the machine=we found one for $5.00. We bought it, immediately downloaded it and immediately found a sewing machine parts online store that we as regular people could buy from... It's not as easy as it sounds. You have to look for a good one if you have issues and take this route like we did. Well we got the parts, he put them on, easily I might add with the manual. It needed an entire back plate cover-$13.00- for where it was all cracked and then after using it a bit more after the first review a spring just popped out and it would not perform any of the stitch functions other than straight. So it needed a tiny spring also-it was under $1.00 from the online store.The machine works great now. It was fixed for under $30. by hand(my husband's :)) and I am incredibly pleased with it. I still cannot give it a 5 star because of the condition it arrived to me in but and it's a big BUT.... It does a wonderful job stitching embroidery and I am so pleased with it now. If you have issues with it, try to fix it yourself before spending hundreds... we bought this machine to save money right??? We did anyway or I would have gotten a Viking :) My husband did fix it but after watching him and being able to look at the repair manual myself, if it has anymore problems I am confident I am going to fix it myself. The repair manual literally tells step by step how to fix any issue including motor issues. It is what the professional you will take it to will use to fix your machine. It is a great machine for the money... Hands down. With the terrible and I mean terrible time I had with it- Yep She made me cry a time or two... It is a really good machine and works like a charm now. Getting some nice digitizing software this coming week and am very excited about it. I made a rag quilt two weeks ago after cutting out several hundred squares on my new big shot pro sizzix machine(awesome btw) and this machine went through 16 layers of flannel with only 2 complaints(beeps& then stops) the whole quilt.***First review on se400*** I was SO excited about getting this model! My husband bought it for me for by birthday... I work from home making kids clothing and baby items so I can stay with the kids and be a stay at home mom while also making a bit of cash... I needed this machine to make my production time faster and so I could make personalized items for my business. I got it, it worked okay... The thread broke more than on any other machine I had... but I thought it was just the thread, the run of the mill thread I use in my serger and my $50 Brother PRW6800. As I used it more and more and realized the thread is breaking more and more and wondered why... I bought more expensive thread- $9.00 a spool mercerized cotton thread for sewing and 40 weight embroidery thread for embroidery. Still, every time I sewed I will have broken threads. So I thoroughly inspected my machine and found these tiny little scratches in my machine where the thread goes through. This is a defective unit that I received. Yet I must leave a negative review because my 30 days return policy is up on Amazon. Also the lady at the Brother company said I can drive an hour and a half away to take my machine to the Brother certified repair shop/dealer and they can fix that for me but she did not have pricing... So all of this is because I did not notice these tiny cuts in the machine until just a few weeks ago because they ARE TINY! Never less they seriously affect the performance of my machine. I placed my order the last day of February, now the middle of May and I just noticed the cuts 1 month ago. The problem is worsening, they look more like cracks now and are very pronounced when you look at them closely and I am actually afraid that this part may, at some point, break off now.My tension is never right, it can never be right because the thread will continue to break for the lifetime of the machine because of these tiny cracks that my machine came with. This part of the machine obviously got scratched or fell or something, when it was being put together and nobody thought it would be a big deal but it was to me, it is to me. Because now I fight with this machine every single day to get it to sew properly and it doesn't sew right. The integrity of the thread is compromised from the cracks that the thread constantly gets caught in and and just breaks my expensive thread and ruins my pieces and forget being able to embroider a design without having the thread break, its just a joke. My embroidery designs look AWFUL because it constantly breaks mid design. It just is very disappointing. This machine is a complete disappointment.Another problem that my machine has is the thread cutter, the automatic thread cutter does not work half the time. this is okay but it was supposed to work every single time, not half the time. I did, however, need this machine to sew and when it is shredding the thread in these cuts right in the second step on the threading guide, how can it sew properly. I have spent good money on Brother products, we also just bought a $200 Brother laser printer.My suggestion to anyone that is buying this se400 machine is thoroughly inspect it as soon as you get it because if you don't and find a problem if there is, within the first 30 days of buying it, you WILL NOT be able to do a thing about it. In my personal opinion it was $315.00 down the drain. I am incredibly surprised that the company has done nothing about it. I will be sending the pictures to them also and hopefully get something done about it. I wish my time did not run out with Amazon because this was an expensive machine and it is so obviously defective from the manufacturer, there is no way someone at home could make these marks... I just want to return it and get a different machine. So many problems with a machine that is only 2 and a half months old.
Top reviews from other countries
Dennis Capistrano
So far so good we got this in May 2018
Reviewed in Canada on October 8, 2018