Janome's at WalMart

The machines sold at big box stores are NOT the same as the machines sold through dealers. They are low cost machines made just for this type of sale. As has been mentioned already, they are not made to the same standards, they are made to cut costs as much as possible. These huge stores like Wal Mart are able to purchase enough of them to make production of them worth it for the manufacturer.

You MAY get lucky and get a machine that will last you more than a year or so, but these low end machines are not built to be long term machines. Remember the video posted recently of the frame-less machines? An inexpensive VERY light machine probably has no frame.

If you plan to sew frequently with your machine, do yourself a favor and go visit a dealer first. The number of stitches a machine has is NOT! what makes a machine cost more. Stitches are like sprinkles on a cupcake. You don't choose cupcakes by the color of the sprinkles.

AT least if you visit a dealer first, you will have a more accurate idea of what is available. A good dealer will have used machines AND stand behind them. They will also fix your new machine if it develops problems. Even if you do get a machine at Wal Mart, you will have to find a shop to take it to for repairs and cleaning.

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Originally Posted by buckeyequilter

Here is what I found when I did an on-line search for Janome:

Janome at WalMart

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Holy crap! The colors on those machines ...

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Originally Posted by hh677

I would be researching very carefully before purchasing one of these machines.

Several years ago my father, a painting contractor, bought a major brand name sprayer at Home Depot. He found that although the machine had a similiar model number to those sold at a higher cost at other retailers, there were pieces not included, and that its performance was sub par. He got in touch with a distributor to get parts. He explained the problems and gave the model #. Immediately the distributor said "oh, you bought that at Home Depot!". The distributor then explained that because HD buys such a large number of units, they were able have them customized, (perhaps cheapened) and labelled as they wish. The unsuspecting public thinks they are getting a good buy on the same item they've seen elsewhere, when in fact they are buying a lesser item. Certainly Walmart could be doing the same thing. Perhaps not, but I would exercise extreme caution here.

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Definitely listen to this advise, Walmart has been proven to do this with many items they sell. My guess would be that the internal parts are not the same or of lesser quality. LQS has also mentioned this same problem with Amazon.

Oh my gosh - I love the colors. Would be great for a little one learning how to sew. But they are all out of stock online - are they only being sold in stores maybe. I would not think these are for the experienced sewer.