Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Brother SE1800 Sewing and Embroidery Machine with 136 Built-in Embroidery Designs, 6 Fonts, 184 Sewing Stitches, 5x7 Embroidery Field, Built-in Memory, 11 Sewing Feet, & Including Machine Case

Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2016

I've had this machine for about a month now and I'm still loving it. It is easy to switch it from a sewing machine to an embroidery machine. It has a USB port so I can use the embroidery designs that I download for free or purchase. Don't care much for most of the pre programmed designs. I cannot figure out the create your own stitch function. They have some that you can program in on the Brother website, but they aren't for this machine (the numbers don't go as high on my machine) if I was good at math I could probably convert them, but sadly... I'm not. There is a book out there but it doesn't let st this machine as suitable, so I'm afraid to buy it.
I use this machine every day and as long as I keep the bobbin area clean and the thread cutter clear, I don't have any problems. The hoop sizes are awesome too!!
On the down side, I wish the visual screen would look more like the picture of your embroidery design instead of a blob. For this reason, I wish I would have upgraded more. But for the price of this machine it's great. The embroidery part is very comparable to the PE770.

3 people found this helpful

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SomeoneWishin

A Very Good Embroidery Machine

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2017

Verified Purchase

My review here is on the SE1800, a sewing and embroidery machine combined. It is my very first embroidery machine. I am very pleased with it as a whole and pretty much love everything about it for the most part. It embroiders beautifully and I've never had a problem with it's performance yet. However there are three things about this machine that I'm a little disappointed with.

The first is the LCD screen....it's WAY too small. It's roughly around 3" w x 2.75" L in size, so if you're going to import several patterns on your flash drive....say a pattern pack for example, when you're looking at them on the screen, it's very difficult to differentiate one pattern from the next when trying to choose the design you want to embroider. The designs are just too small to view clearly. To get around this problem, I will only put the one pattern on the flash drive that I'm going to embroider. Even the 136 embroidery designs the machine comes with is extremely hard to see and pick the one you want. When I look at most other Brother embroidery machines now, I am envious of their very large LCD panel screen that takes the whole right side of their machine up and wonder why Brother didn't make the LCD screen on this one just a bit larger.

Ok, the LCD screen problem I really don't mind living with, but what I'm personally disappointed with is the jumbo hoop size. This embroidery machine uses a small 4x4" hoop and also a large 5x7" hoop, which I love and use the most. It also uses a jumbo 5x12" multi-position hoop (which you have to buy separately), which I use almost as much as the 5x7 hoop. What I don't understand is why in the world Brother made the jumbo hoop only 5" wide! It's a JUMBO hoop after all, so why did Brother make it the same width as the 5x7 hoop? I really wish they had made it at least 6" wide.....a 6"x12" hoop instead. That extra inch in width makes ALL the difference. Since purchasing this machine, I have looked at and purchased many embroidery patterns from many different embroidery web sites these past few months. I'm finding a large percentage of the patterns out there fit the 6"x --" and 8"x --" hoops. It's a real disappointment when I look for and find a pattern I would absolutely love to embroider, only to find my jumbo hoop is once again an inch too narrow. For example; I recently searched for and found a kitchen set I really wanted to embroider, which included an oven glove mitt (which is what I mostly wanted). The pattern was for the 6" x 8" hoop. My 5x12 hoop was 1" too narrow....really frustrating. This problem occurs over and over for me. I can only assume and guess that Brother did this to encourage the sale of their own patterns, I just don't know.

The third thing about this machine is that I wish it could embroider AND sew without having to remove and attach the embroidery unit on and off. Many times I've been in the middle of an embroidery project and needed to sew a seam or some little thing, but you can not do so without detaching the whole embroidery unit if you want to sew. Honestly, I knew this about the machine before I bought it, but didn't think it would become an important issue for me. So this might be an important consideration if you're wanting an embroidery and sewing machine.

I spent many hours throughout the months before buying my embroidery machine, researching the different brands and models and reading countless reviews on them before I finally decided to buy this machine. Even then, being new to the embroidery world, I still lacked the in-depth knowledge that really comes through experience and being involved in the embroidery world I guess. Had I known what I do now, I think I might have chosen a different Brother model to meet my needs better. I wish I had known about these particular things before I bought it.

Over all this is a wonderful machine and a joy to use and grow with....a great machine for the price. I hope this review helps someone who's trying to decide on and choose an embroidery machine. It will really depend on what you personally want/need in an embroidery machine and what's going to be important to you.

16 people found this helpful

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Susan H.

Broke after 6 months of minimal use

Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2017

Verified Purchase

I have had this machine for less than six months. I just started embroidering and was happy because this machine had so many good reviews and it has the bigger hoops but when I went to switch back to sewing and make the feed dogs rise up, they did not come up! Took it to the shop after trying what it says in the manual and calling Brother (which basically quoted the manual). They told me that this and many other problems are common with this machine. I am really disappointed that a $1200 machine is broken after only six months of minimal use and to top it all off, I will be without my machine for two weeks because the repair shop that I have to take it to is the only one that repairs Brother machines in my entire city! I am not a happy camper.

5 people found this helpful

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Jennifer

I tried everything adjusting the tension purchasing the best thread and stabilizer to use

Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2017

Verified Purchase

Was having nothing but problems with my machine. Every time I used it to try embroider the thread keeps knotting up and jamming my machine even to the point of needles breaking. I tried everything adjusting the tension purchasing the best thread and stabilizer to use. Nothing helped I even talked to brother customer service they couldn't help.

4 people found this helpful

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Tashiana

Heartbroken (Dramatic I know)

Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2017

Verified Purchase

So I was really excited about this machine! Packaging was good came with no visible damage. I got all set up just to find out my touch screen does not work. I'm sending it back and going to try again. I'm only giving 2 stars because for the amount of money paid nothing should've been wrong!!! I'll provide another review once I get a working machine.

One person found this helpful

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RJK

Keeping you in stitches.

Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2015

Verified Purchase

Although I found this machine a dream to use, I did send it back. The one feature I use extensively is the speed slider. For most of my sewing I do not use the foot control. This is because of diabetic foot pain. Unlike other machines I have tried out, This Brother only has one speed (about medium) when doing decorative stitches. The slider does work with your utility stitches, but ironically, those are the ones where I would use my foot control. I did try out the Brother SE425 ( from Walmart) that used the speed slider control for all stitches. So I thought that would be the same for this model. If you use a foot switch and not the start/stop button along with the slider speed switch, this is a great machine. The one thing I did like is the super wide decorative stitches. It's a real hoot watching the fabric move forward and backward while ALSO moving side to side. Bottom line, for its capabilities, hoop size, varity of stitches, it is worth the price. For me... I ended up making an obsurd jump. I have a BabyLock Destiny on order. Why do I say "obsured"?... Take the price of this Brother and multiply it by 10. Need I say any more?

4 people found this helpful

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Fern Staton

Takes a little knowledge and time

Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2018

Verified Purchase

I paid way too much for this machine but it was Christmas and I had to pick something out or I'd end up getting a fleece lounge set again. Saw the same package on HSN for half of what I paid. Kinda broke my heart. The machine runs smooth but saving your embroidery files to a memory stick and having to download them into the machine, where they sit with no picture of what it is or color thread sheet, is kind of difficult. I guess I'm spoiled, Have a Viking embroidery machine, but it's old and they don't make parts, but what little of it that still functions,functions well. It's like trading down from a Lexus to a Ford Focus.

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Grethel Sherry

This Machine is Obsolete

Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2018

Verified Purchase

Do not purchase this machine.... it is obsolete and you can no longer get updates for it. The screen is not in color and it's difficult to detect the designs on a media stick. If you plan to spend this kind of money on a good sewing machine, buy the upgraded model. I wish I had done more research before purchasing this SE 1800.

4 people found this helpful

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S. Parker

Versatile Machine!

Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2017

Verified Purchase

Good sturdy machine that is a bit challenging to master if you're used to old sewing machines as I was. Brother is a very dependable brand, but this machine is limited on stitches and accessories. Attaching and detaching the embroidery arm is cumbersome, but it makes beautiful stitches both with sewing and embroidering. I love how easy it is to load bobbins and thread needles, the hard cover, and the storage area for the ample supply of feet that are included.

3 people found this helpful

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triGod

I am writing this because I do love my new machine

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2017

Verified Purchase

I am writing this because I do love my new machine, it is taking time to learn how everything works. I am having problems with thread getting stuck on a slit in the spool. I look in my book and I should have a large spool cap, this did not come with all the accessories it has in my manual. I am going to go over all the things in the book and the things I got tomorrow and Friday, by Monday I will let you know if anything else is missing.. I know in time this will be much ez er but for now it takes a lot of time.

One person found this helpful

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