Review on Juki TL-2010Q: High-Performance Portable Sewing Machine for Quilting, Tailoring, and Home Decor with Automatic Thread Trimmer by Shantel Griffin

I've had my Juki TL-2010Q for a few weeks now. I'm a quilter with years of experience sewing clothes in the past (although I don't do it anymore). I have a Singer Quantum Stylist 9960 which offers an amazing amount of features for the price I paid 4 years ago. I had some electronic issues but other than that it was a good car. But I wanted to upgrade and one of the main reasons was that I don't have the budget to ship my long sleeve quilts and I've gotten pretty good at free motion quilting. The Singer just doesn't have much throat room and I figured I could improve my overall experience with a better machine. After months of research, instead of upgrading my electronic machine, I decided to use a more industrial straight stitch machine for sewing and free-motion, with the intention of storing my Singer for when I needed a zigzag. or other more elegant seams. I make applique and other projects that require it. In the end I chose the Juki TL-2010Q and it did everything I hoped it would. PROS: It sews like butter, it's so smooth and the stitches are the most even I've seen. It's very durable and comes with a huge extendable table (almost twice the size of my Singer). I was able to use all of its features and free motion quilting allows me to do the best work I have ever done with so much control and with the added help of a very large neck that allows me to tuck in a bulky blanket. Machine carving is not as easy as my Singer's; but once I get the hang of it, no problem. It winds the smoothest coils I have ever seen - they are perfect. And whether this car is fast - that's why cruise control helps a lot. The needle up/down is great, as is the ability to cut the thread in 3 different places, the foot pedal, the button on the front of the machine and the thread cutter on the back of the needle. Threading and side winding is not a problem, especially if like me you have experience with older machines. The Juki doesn't come with a huge amount of accessories, but I really think what comes with it is enough; and it's especially nice to get a real quality running foot. CONS: The instruction manual is terrible, very little explanation with terrible pictures. But there are enough videos on YouTube that it doesn't matter much. As with most sewing machines the lighting is dim but I bought an LED strip which I placed under the neck area and now it glows beautifully. That was an extra effort that was worth it. My only real complaint is with the needle threader. It took me a long time to figure out how to use it and only after watching countless YouTube videos over and over again. The one on my Singer works like a breeze so this one was very disappointing. I found I still have an issue with it as it gets stuck in the down position. I think I may have found a video on how to fix this as others have encountered this, but I don't worry about it now - I just thread the needle by hand. I know this was a long review but as I was doing my research I wanted to know the details of the machines I was interested in. I hope I've helped someone else make an informed decision. All in all, this is a dream car. I bought it for a specific purpose and it serves that purpose like a champ.