Bernina Artista 730E

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.