The Search for Mr. Darcy - An Engineering Approach to Choosing a Long Arm Machine

I'm not sure how many people know this about me, but I am actually trained as an engineer, twice over.  So while the artist side of me is definitely tuned into the emotional connection to things and I have a very passionate side to my personality, the engineer in me craves facts, figures, and objective analysis.  Since I'm making a decision about a pretty significant investment, it wouldn't feel right unless I "ran the numbers".  I don't know if any of you will find this interesting, but I though it could perhaps provide some insight into how I am going about making this decision.

I have done very similar analyses on other significant purchases including my car (purchased in 2001) and my current house (purchased in 2007.)  I have never regretted either decision.  By contrast, I've made other purchases based mostly on emotional impulses, and I've had much more mixed results.  Most of the time these are relatively low-impact (like my set of Ginsu knives - WTH?) but I've also had some doozies (like the duplex I bought at 23 years old because I fell in love with the wood details and stained glass.  Can you say, "Money Pit"?)

Anyway, just to share my process with you, first I had to develop the "control criteria" - basically, what does my ideal machine look like?  I tried to reduce this down to the things that I really care about - the features that I would like, the price I want to pay, and making sure the thing will fit in my basement.  I call this ideal machine "Mr. Darcy":

I did not plan to do an exhaustive investigation of every single long arm on the planet.  Just like when you're buying a car, you won't test drive all 500 types, you'll be able to eliminate most of them just by focusing on a certain class. So I was able to eliminate machines that were smaller than 18", or larger than 26" (can't reach that far), anything that had a frame larger than 12' (because it wouldn't fit in the basement) and so on.

I didn't really focus on price initially, but at the end of the day, I still have to be able to fit it into my budget.  It does no good to fall in love with a Ferrari if you don't have Ferrari money.

I developed a red/yellow/green approach, to compare the machines against my control criteria.  Things that exceeded my expectations got rated green, things that met (or came close to meeting) my expectations were rated yellow, and things that were below expectations or that I found goofy or annoying got rated red.

I did have other criteria than this, but eliminated them when the machines all had it in common.  So for example, in preferring M size bobbins, all the machines had this, so it didn't really add value to keep it on the list.  I also didn't keep things on the list that I didn't find personally valuable.  For example, the Gammill Vision comes with an FM radio tuner... but I have an iPhone with all sorts of radio apps on it, so that didn't really add value to me as a feature.

I allowed one "subjective" criteria which allowed me to express some of my general impressions about things that wouldn't show up otherwise.  I basically allowed my heart a vote too!

So let's look at one such comparison, the APQS Lenni:

Now, when I was at the Madison Quilt Expo, I played with this machine quite a bit.  It's a very solid machine, and a lot of people love their Lenni.  However, the Lenni is no Mr. Darcy.  I think the thing that really killed this machine is the beeping, which I listened to for a solid 4 hours.  The machine is extremely affordable & doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles.  But side by side against my criteria, and you can see this machine just isn't up to par.

Here's another - the Gammill Vision:

Gammill does have a very nice line of machines, but frankly they cost more than I want to spend.  Ferrari tastes on a Honda budget.  I would have preferred the 26" model, but that just added even more to the cost, which puts the Gammill even more out of reach, especially once the computer gets involved. Not only is this the Cadillac of long arms, but it also costs as much as one!

All in all, I compared 7 machines, and I'm secretly pleased at the final result, because it is at the intersection of my heart and brain.   

Say hello to Mr. Darcy!

The base price is a lot higher than other machines but it's because other features, like stitch regulation, are standard and don't contribute additional costs.  It's right near the top of my budget, but with a super dealer who's close by, a large throat space, and an affordable computer module, I'd have to say HandiQuilter did a great job coming out with a solid machine that can grow with me.  The only thing that really bugs me is that due to the length of the frame it will have to run a different direction in the basement which isn't an efficient use of space.  It will fit though!

If you'd like to see the complete analysis of the 7 machines I compared, just click here to open the PDF.

Stay tuned for more news from Mr. Darcy!


Happy quilting!