Brother XR3140 at Costco

**WaffleBox** · 10-05-2015, 13:13

I was in Costco this weekend and saw they had a Brother XR3140 on sale for $150. On first glance, it looks like it has all of the features I want in a machine, but I wanted to run it by y'all to get your opinion. It appears to be a very new model, and may only be available at Costco. Can't find any reviews of it online.

Costco page

Brother page

Its predecessor, the XR3155, got pretty good reviews on Amazon.

The only feature which I would like, but can't tell whether this machine has or not, is the ability to swap out the zig zag throat plate for a straight stitch throat plate.

Does it seem like a good machine and a good deal?

**Boston** · 10-05-2015, 23:00

To me, it looks like overkill, from a "feature" standpoint. What features exactly do you think you need?

If you're set on a new machine I'd spend the money on a Singer 4423 instead. All the same Machine features, none of the fluff, and probably a lot more durable (especially without the electronic control board). In fact, I did spend my money on one.

**Ramblinrev** · 10-06-2015, 05:41

It's a "quilting" machine and a super cheap one too. IMO too much information is not listed in the writeup. No weight listed, no motor specs. If you want a disposable boat anchor I guess it would be worth a shot but IMO cheap computerized components are not very durable, have serious heat tolerance issues and are expensive and can be next to impossible to replace. A quilting machine does not need to be able to punch through the layers, thickness and toughness of fabrics a gear maker needs to do. The decorative stitches on cheap machines are often more akin to 8 bit ASCII art than 720 HD. Yeah you could tell what the monogram letter is supposed to be, but it may not lookvery pleasing to the eye. If you don't have the picture yet.... I think you could do better without all the fluff. For a gear making machine it is way too complicated, for an advanced sewing machine it is way to cheap.