Bernina Artista 730E

I have owned several Bernina machines for over 50 years. I bought the 730e as a replacement for an 1130 and a separate machine embroidery machine. Big mistake. I thought an all in one would be easier but not so. I do a lot of quilting and it doesn’t like the fabric to be touched or handled while it is sewing. It makes a loud noise. The only way to stop the noise is to stop the machine and rethread. It has been to the dealer many times and they say it is my error. I use it very little and just bought a Phaff.

Help, my Bernina Artista 730 is giving me fits. I have spent nearly $1,000 on it this year getting a new circuit board and touchscreen put on it. Now I am getting nothing but error messages with the bobbin sensor light I have clean that area out I’ve checked my bobbin there’s nothing in the way that I can see. Why is this machine all of a sudden causing issues. I purchased it brand new five or six years ago and I’ve been happy with it until this year.

Bernina sewing machines are great, but sadly, a lot of the dealers are not. If you don’t have a good dealer who knows what they are doing and can fix each machine the right way, you are going to have an average or bad experience.

I am the largest seller of used Bernina’s on the internet and I receive feedback from customers all over the nation about dealers…..and they are not good.

In my experience, a lot of the problems listed here are user error and can be solved by taking a sewing class. Owners either don’t know how to use something or press the wrong setting and think the machine is broken. They could even be using the wrong needle, bobbin, or thread. After that, a good service will solve the rest of the problems (if your dealer has a good tech person). Most dealers do not have very good tech people.

Bernina Sewing Machines are great and heavy duty, but finding a good dealer that has a good tech person is 2/3’s the battle.

My 730 artists constantly puckers on long–40 inch strips. I have tried everything. Any suggestions would br greatly appreciated. Ginny

My Bernina Artista 730 sews great, however the original USB stick cannot be read by the machine or my computer. I went to the Bernina store and their remark was yes that model has problems doing that. I bought two new sticks and after embroidering less than ten designs, it will not read the new stick. They are not cheap and was told I should not use anything but Bernina in the 730. At that price it’s not worth it. Make’s me not want to buy another bernina. Any help?

I love my 730e. I bought it used from one of the sales gals at my dealer. She took very good care of it, and I also keep it serviced and dusted. I have had no problems with it.
Like I said, I love it, but I’m afraid I will have to upgrade sooner than later

My Artista 200 was…ok… For these 13 years during which I did not use it too much. Did some embroidery at the begining and must say the finished work was not the best. Lately I took it for maintainance, the dealer charged 120dlls and came back freezing very often, just frozen doing nothing. I discover that I needed to reboot -turn it off and on, waiting like 15 minutes in between- took it to dealer, technitian says I need to pay around other $600 for a new main board since warranty on that is over. BUT THEY DO NOT OFFER ANY NEW WARRANTY ON THE NEW BOARD!!! So why should I put more $ on this very expensive machine and perhaps just to find out that the problem is not gone or gone after a few months…? SHAME ON YOU BERNINA! Do not buy a bernina!!! They sail with the image of what it used to be. BERNINA IS NO LONGER THE BEST AND THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE STINKS.

I would vote for some clever lawyers to creat a fancy group legal resourse, that will stop Bernina and reps from just taking advantage of their customers.

I have numerous problems with this machine. I previously had a 180 and traded up to the 730e. I never should have done that but I thought that the problems I had with with 180 would not be on the 730. Well they are the same and I can not get through a seam, even a straight one without the machine stopping with thread error messages. I had to turn off the sensors. I took it in and they changed the sensors, same thing happens. The sensors constantly stop the machine so I have to keep them off. Nothing worse than a machine that keeps on embroidering a complicated design without a bobbin.
I sold the embroidery module because I ruined too many projects and gave up embroidery. The tension never works proper and sometimes it just stops sewing. They changed the main board but the errors persist. When I change stitch patterns the machine does not and I don’t know that until I start to sew. I do a lot of ripping. I was blamed for the problems from the dealer because they could never find anything wrong so it becomes user error.
I change needles, thread , rethread and reinsert the bobbin so many times I begun to hate using it.
I have been sewing 60 yrs and wish I could get my old singer back. If I didn’t pay a fortune for this cadillac of machines I would go get a brother but that brings the guilt over spending so much for features that do not work. I can not sell this lemon with out losing every penny I put into it. All my life I wanted to get the best machine ever and it was supposed to be a Bernina. Now I feel stuck and have a 40 lb paper weight on my sewing table! My dealer has more Brothers than Berninas on their sales floor. The help they have knows nothing about the machines and if your not in their quilting groups you are an outsider. I don’t go to the store anymore. They don’t even know what the feet do and I have to rely on the internet to get info on their use.

I have had so many problems with this machine - bobbin and thread error messages that stop the machine, which I have had to disable as the error messages were incorrect. Top bobbin pulls toward top regardless of tension settings. Dealer told me it was “reconditioned” - only 1 - 1/2 years old when I got it — but it was only “serviced” and the problems I had from the beginning were blamed on ME - “user error” — problems I did not have with my friend’s earlier model Berninas.
The dealer’s repair person was not very good. When I took it to another repairman and asked that it be checked for “lemon” status, I was told that Bernina does not make lemons.
The thread cutter often unthreads the needle and it shreds the top thread too . . . some of the fancy stitches do not stop where they are supposed to, ruining the design. Some days I spend around 10 minutes of every hour fiddling with machine problems. It has been in service around eight or nine times. I am fed up with this “top notch” expensive machine, and so very disappointed as I had great faith in Bernina and thought I was trading up from my old Pfaff workhorse. Angry at how I was treated by the dealer. For straight stitching my old Pfaff machine is better and my WWII vintage Singer Featherweight is better, too. Sadly I cannot recommend this machine.

Wanted to update my prior review. Saw the dealer about the non-reading of bobbins. He explained that for these two models- A200 and B730 - the bobbins contain a sensor built in. If you use prewounds, or bobbins from a different machine, the Bernina machine will not read them appropriately. Since I use almost exclusively prewounds, I was happy to accept this explanation, though I keep cleaning because of the constant “dust” messages. Nevertheless, it seems to be true. When you use the Bernina bobbins, the problem rarely occurs. I was able to embroider, just had to keep pressing exit every time the message came up. Would be awful if the design had a lot of stitches; this was a small design. Would have to use a Bernina bobbin for a bigger, dense design or it would take forever and I’d have to sit there pushing the button all the time.

This is my third Bernina. My first was a Christmas gift in 1976 and I still think it was the best machine ever made. My husband bought this very expensive Artista 730e as a gift on our 50th anniversary, thinking he was buying the very best. It has been nothing but trouble. The bobbin sensor has never worked since the day I got it, the light comes on sometimes but not always so have to flip it off and on repeatedly. The latest thing is it just stops and will do nothing, can’t change stitches, sew, nothing. I have to turn it off and back on. Yesterday, it started making a long stitch and could not be adjusted…again, turn it off and back on. I guess its brain is going and when it does, I will not have it fixed. No more money on Bernina machines. What a shame! I have a Singer that I ordered to use for sewing Burlap coffee sacks. I payed $129 and it sews better than the Bernina, even has a needle threader that works.

I wanted to trade in my 180E on a machine at least made in this century, so “upgraded” to 730, or artista 200 (whatever the letter is, they were equivalents). I am sorry I got into debt for this thing. Nonstop bobbin error messages (which I ignore) but won’t use it for embroidery as it will obviously stop continually with the bobbin message. It has the same problem with tension as the old one, which is the bobbin thread always pulls up to the top even with the “special” bobbin cases. I thought at least it had fixed the useless needle threader problem the old machine had - which always works on every other machine I have had at any price - but that stopped working as well. Very disappointed in Bernina. Next trade-in, will try Pfaff.

My husband paid a small fortune for my Bernina 730e and it’s been nothing but problems since day 1. Bobbin empty error messages, starting and stopping during embroidery, and the BSR does not work well in this model. I’m pretty bitter and the lack of response from Bernina and they are well aware of the probem. My next machine is a pfaff….

This is the 4th regular Bernina that I have owned, and they had very few problems. Had the first one behaved like the 730, I would have never bought another Bernina. The major problem I have with the 730 is the fact that it skips stitches and yet I have been told several times after taking it to the shop that there is nothing wrong with the machine. Then, I’ll bring it back home, and the same thing occurs all over again. It appears to me that this particular line of Bernina machines should have some type of recall, similar to what happens in the auto industry. After all, its cost is comparable to the ‘Cadillac’ of the auto world. Furthermore, my expectation is that it should perform at least as good as a 25-year old machine. Shame on Bernina for putting out a machine at this cost and yet it will not perform up to par in many areas and definitely has a major problem sewing cotton threads. The company rep, not the dealer, told me to keep checking various needles that eventually I should find something that works. To me, that was a mighty weak solution, and I didn’t receive any free needles to perform this task either. I’ve tried basically every combination, and I am still getting skipped stitches. Also, the BSR attachment does not work properly either. If I were selling this machine in store, I would be doing all that I could to assist the customer in finding a way to have Bernina issue a new comparable machine to each and all who have expressed disappointment in the function of the machine. After viewing the summary of the machine reviews and noting that 17 of 25 reviews are negative, it is time that this group of reviewers join forces and insist that Bernina come up with a satisfactory solution for each and every one of us. After reading the reviews, my summation statement is that this product is closer to being a ‘grapefruit’ than a lemon!

In the past 25 years I’ve owned and loved at least seven Bernina machines. The trouble I’ve had has been minimal to say the least. Recently I purchased the new 780E as a replacement for my Artista 200E which is upgraded to the 730E including the BSR. Every feature works beautifully on this upgraded machine. After serious consideration I’ve decided to keep the 200/730E. Incidentally, the new 780E is my dream machine. Beautiful embroidery, terrific hook system, lovely sew out. Thanks for the opportunity to “sound off” about my love affair with Bernina.

I would give it a big fat “0″ if it was an option. This is one of many complaints for this 730E. I had issues right after taking it out the box. At first I thought it was me, but then found out it was the machine. Several attempt to reconcile the issues to no avail. Even the dealer is frustrated by tech support from Bernina, or the lack thereof. Every time I try to embroidery, it’s good for a couple of practices, and then the whole computer board freezes up. My dealer has moved away and so now, instead of 1 hour, I now have a 2 hour drive one way. I’ve tried every avenue to rectify the issues I’m having. It would appear every time I have a deadline to meet, especially with the embroidery, the machine gives out. Now it just sits there and won’t allow to make any suggestions. I’ve never paid this kind of money for a sewing machine, ever, and then be totally frustrated. I still have about $3,000 left on the machine. To have this kind of trouble on a fairly new machine, is neglible. Like the rest of you ladies, I too had issues with the bobbin area. Found a very minute piece of thread which caught in the bobbin area and after removal, the issue didn’t seem to come back. I don’t know if the technician disconnected the sound and/or feature, but does not let me know, with regard to bobbin when it’s empty and/or other issues. What is wrong with Bernina that it appears to care nothing for customer opinion. If I’d seen these posts before I first bought this machine (and I looked), I would have never puchased it. My husband is getting pretty upset with all the issues I’m having. If I have to replace the circuit board (which has had very little use) and spend more money, it’s not going to happen. I’ll trash it or sell it to someone else for parts. What a shame! Most times when a company does not perform satisfactory customer support, it’s usually because they are in financial trouble. So, I will be calling the Serv Rep I purchased the machine from tomorrow and probably have to drive over 400 miles in one day to take it to him and probably another day to pick it up. Does anyone know if there are a group of ladies taking these issues to a legal council for some kind compensation for all the grief, not to mention expense and total disillusionment toward bernina?

Have a 730 artista and it has been in the shop more than out sewing. Finally got urr sent to Chicago and the S/W stepper motor was off. I am so frustrated with the lack of customer service that I haven’t even opened the box. All I can say is buyer beware. The corporation stands behinds dealers not customers. Funny since the money comes from customers. Oh yeah, all problems were always my fault.

I have been going crazy with the error message regarding the bobbin needing cleaning. It starts and stops continuously. I learned from my dealer that they are aware of this problem and have discontinued the machine. Now he will take it as a trade-in for a 780E but frankly I am gun shy about the Bernina with embroidery modules. I would not recommend this machine to anyone.

Right now poor the bobbin sensor keeps telling me its out of thread. While free motion quilting the thread breaks . Really fed up at this stage. Daughters quikt not ready for her birthday. My bernina 730 was bought with inheritance otherwise could not afford it. Really disappointed and would not advise anyone to buy a machine with computer. Best to stick to the oldfashioned sewing machine.

I too have had problems right out of the box. Finally went to a training class and guess what - it is the machine! No me! Right now they are looking at replacing an entire circuit card - and we still don’t know if that will fix the problem. I almost thought about getting the B780 but have heard horror stories about it and it has been around only a year. Once I get this fixed I will either keep what I have or change mfgr. The older Berninas were GREAT - this “new technology” is poor at best.

I too find that the bobbin sensor does not work. I am tired of sewing and finding that once again the sensor did not alert me that I am out of bobbin thread. It has been to 2 different service technicians several times. Each time they assure me that the problem is fixed. I don’t even bother with the alert any more. I am changing machines and brands. POOR POOR POOR quality and service. I am tired of the dealer thinking the problem is me and not my machine. Looking for a new dealer and machine.

Sews great, but needle comes unthreaded after using the thread cutter–a giant pain when machine quilting.
Dealer said hers did the same thing. Now, that’s comforting!First Bernina I’ve had, as I wanted to own one before I die, just to see what all the snobbish hype is about.Twice, the machine speeded up and wouldn’t stop–had to turn it off.Constant message to clean bobbin area, when it is fine.Not the quality I expected for the money.Think twice before buying this one.

I have had a 730e for a couple of years and it has been with the technician regularly. I have had several problems with it - the omnimotion stitches don’t match up and they don’t start and finish where they should going by the plastic guidelines; the thread cutter doesn’t always work; I kept getting the message to clean out the bobbin area, but it was spotless and it stopped after a few stitches; with the embroidery unit I will put together a design of several components, but when I go to sew it out the machine doesn’t do anything so I have to turn the machine off and start again; the BSR doesn’t give equal stitches - it just doesn’t; and finally the technician is so patronising and blames me!

I really enjoy my 730e–but one area that drives me crazy is the bobbin threads. There is almost no otice at all when you run out of bobbin thread. My 180e was great. I did have one problem with the ‘clean bobbin area’. While recently living in Germany I took it to a German Bernina dealer to find out that a computerized part was bad. It’ cost me around $100 but it works well now.

This is my fifth Bernina including a serger. I still have 3 of the earlier machines. All work perfectly including my 1978 model. It stops sewing every 1-2 inches and a pop us says a thread is broken or bobbin empty. Not true!! The alternative message is regarding tension balance. It will not sew quilting cottons, flannels and jeans. My dealer is trying to work with me, but I have told them I am ready to give the machine back to them. Bernina must know of these problems–as these are the most common complaints about this machine. I have to teach a class next week–and I am using my 1950 Singer Featherweight.

My 730 Artista has been in a box since purchase until recently due to family illnesses, etc. I have been sewing for many years and used many machines including emb. machines. I get very frustrated as the emb. unit stops every few minutes/seconds to tell me I need to clean out bobbin area. This happened even the first time out of the box!!!! I disconnected the sound, but cannot disconnect the command. Any help with this? Machine was brand new IN BOX until recently and had never been used! How in the world could the bobbin area need cleaning???????

I have used many embroidery machines through the years…. have been digitizing and machine embroidering since about 1997. I’ve had the Bernina Artista 730E for about 5 years, sealed in box. When I finally got it out and loaded a design, it stops every few seconds to tell me to clean out the bobbin case. I have done so (there was actually nothing there as it had never been used). I’ve oiled according to directions. This is maddening. Anyone found a solution to this problem???? HELP!!!!

Hello from another frustated Bernina customer!

I too have had numerous problems with the Artista 730E.
This machine has spent more time at the dealers over the past year and is still not working correctly, plus it is now out of guarantee.

Problems:
Cutting knife does not work and the machine keeps on stopping stating that the bobbin needs cleaning which it does not -( it sews beautifully though).
I was told that it probably needs a new main electronic panel as this is the only part the dealer has not tried to replace when testing, mainly because it would have to be ordered at a cost of somewhere in the region of £500 to £700.
(I have been a customer of this Bernina dealer for many years and he is very professional, trustworthy and knows what he is talking about.)

I could not believe this would be necessary for a machine that has had very little use during the five years it has been owned.

I have not used my Artista 730E for over 12 months and have totally lost all interest in this frustrating machine.

I have been a loyal customer of Bernina for over 50 years and have obviously acquired a lot of Bernina equipment during this time and I must say how very disappointed I am with them in the recent products they have produced and their customer service support.

In the past I have sent emails to Bernina in Switzerland, USA and in the UK where I live but have not had replies.
What I have found in recent years is that they bring out new products but do not seem to test them correctly prior to the products going onto the market.

Take the Cutwork software and the B830 embroidery machine for other examples:

I have had issues with their Cutwork tool and sent emails regarding the problems I have incurred and not had a reply from them, then after spending agonising time trying to sort the problems out for months, Bernina then produce an upgrade to rectify the problems without informing me about 6 months later.
I only found out by checking out their USA website.
.

I was going to upgrade my Artista 730E to a B830 but have read bad reviews of this product and I am stuck with this 730E which I cannot trade in unless I spend a fortune for repair bills, so what can I do?

Also the B830 received bad feed backs during the first 12 months after it was introduced into the UK but have been told by my dealer the problems have now been rectified for B830 embroidery machines manufactured more recently, which is why I was interested in purchasing one.

Having taught many students over the years and also recommended Bernina products to them, I only hope none of them have had problems.

Perhaps Bernina should take care of loyal customers, -you know what they say ” For every 100 sales they could make, it will only take one sale to spread bad reports about them”.
When a customer buys an expensive product they expect them to work perfectly.

i too, have had nothing but problems with my machine. mostly the embroidery part. i have owned it for almost 7 years. wish i had stuck with janome. bobbin thread continually cuts off too short between color changes and machine stops approximately every minute to tell me there is something wrong with the bobbin area. i have had the machine to the shop multiple times without any good results. getting more and more frustrated. bernina is also not very interested in standing behind their products. i have contacted them by e-mail which they have not answered and when i finally called them, they were not very pleasant. i was informed the machine cannot go back to the company unless the dealer says it needs to and she keeps sending it to her repairman with no luck.

For the price I paid for this machine, it sure has a lot of problems. No wonder Bernina discontinued manufacturing this machine. The decorative stitches were “iffy” before, but not they have ceased to work all together. I am fed up with sitting here spending countless hours of trying to get this sucker to work to no avail. My dealer/technician is 60 miles away (1 way). I am really regretting the purchase of this machine. It has been one problem after another.

Sewing should be fun, right? Then why am I tense and close to tears at least half the time when trying to do things on this machine? The tension was not right when I received the machine and required internal adjustment. The BSR mode 1 only works when you press the reverse button. After hours of practise I still cannot get an ‘invisible hem’. Stretch knits ball up and jam under the throat plate unless you use a stabilizer behind them, a nuisance and extra work to remove later. Putting that plastic ’stacker’ behind your work every time you hit a thick seam is a pain. I like the needle threader and bobbin winder, the variety of stitches and measuring guides with this machine, but the Bernina I bought in 1965 is faster to set up and use and does almost as much. A wonderful indestructable machine.

Hello,

I give this 5 stars now that the kinks got worked out. It took three years of calling the company an returning to the store. I returned the machine the day after I got it trying to swap out, but they wouldn’t. The light was intermittent and sometimes wouldn’t come on at all. Finally - again - 3 years later - the store owner replaced the power board in the machine and it has been perfect ever since - minus the lint sensor in the bobbin area that pops up very 5 secs if you don’t disable.

Am really relieved to hear others had the same issue with the light. Bernina makes wonderful machines, however, they are not so sweet when there machine isn’t perfect and they don’t support these types of issues.

On a side note…I really wish they would extend the software so it is MAC compatible (partitioning the hard drive doesn’t count).

Respectfully.

Don’t know why you removed my posting that related that the BSR and feed dogs had gone “haywire” after I got the light fixed (see previous posting).
Just got back from my Bernina repair technician and happy to report that he found a wire connection loose
and machine is back in working condition!

My previous post about the sewing light with it’s own schedule has been fixed as of 6/29/11 (new light assembly). NOW, the BSR doesn’t work and the feed dogs just go up and down, won’t move the material.
I’m not too sure I will ever “love” this machine vs. the 153QE that I kept (thank goodness). Machine scheduled to go back to dealer 7/20 and let’s hope that technican can find out what went wrong. Can’t talk to technican at Bernina! Policy ????

I’ve had my new 730E for 4 weeks now and still getting use to the machine. This is my 3rd Bernina sewing machine and 4th Bernina embroidery machine.
So far I am satisfied with 1 exception: the sewing light has its own “schedule”. Usually it comes on about the same time as the “Trumpet”, sometimes it waits until a little later and several times it didn’t come on until I re-booted machine(turn off and back on).
I have heard of 1 other 730E with same problem.
Does anyone know if Bernina has addressed this problem with their retail repair shops?
I can be reached at bake8771@bellsouth.net
Thanks for any help

I HAVE HAD NOTHING BUT TROUBLE WITH THIS MACHINE, BREAKING THREAD, TENSION PROBLEMS, POORLY FORMED DECORATIVE STITCHES. IT HAS BEEN IN THE SHOP 5 TIMES IN THE 18 MONTHS I’VE HAD THE MACHINE.

Well I just got mine and I am still trying to work it out. I also have the 180E so that does give me a bit of a head start. I love the sound of the Trumpet when it start up. I do find it slower than the 180E but it doesnt bother me. At least I dont have to have all the cords connected to my Computer as I use the USB stick which I find much easier. But my rating for the machine is a 10 not 5

The Artista 730e uses Windows as its operating system and I find that it takes over 1 minute to boot up. This doesn’t really bother me because having Windows does offer benefits such as the ability to connect to the Bernina portal for goodies without a PC - you’ll need to purchase a LAN card or modem though. I love the large colored touch-screen! The built-in on-screen tutorials uses graphics so it’s easy to understand. There is thing called Creative Consultant that helps you if you need help. And of course the BSR is great for quilting.

There is so much to love about this machine I don’t know where to start. The machine is quiet and produces quality stitches. You can adjust embroidery designs on the coloured screen and it will increase/reduce the stitch density automatically for you. The BSR is great for free motion. Huge amount of decorative stitches available. USB for easily transferring designs and for connection to your pc. It does cost a lot and kind of heavy but those don’t really take anything away from the machine. I do a lot of quilting also and this machine has not let me down yet.