Husqvarna Viking 1

The is about the Husqvarna #1+ NOT to be confused with the designer 1. Have owned my Husqvarna/Viking #1+ since 1998. It is a all metal quality built workhorse of a machine that comes in a perfect storage case. I plan on keeping this machine forever. At some point I may upgrade to an embroidery machine with a larger embroidery area. But I will still keep this machine as it sews beautiful and has the strength to sew thru numerous layers of heavy fabric. I have heard the reason husqvarna stopped making this machine was that it was just too good. No repairs (knock on wood) and very little maintanence (no oiling). I would recommend having it services at least every two years.
The machine has needle up/down function and a front loading bobbin. The embroidery stitches are built into the machine BUT to have the majority of them function you must have cards a, b, d, e, or f. The A card has garment construction stitches like buttonholes, zigzag, stretch. B is the lettering cassette and gives you a choice of several lettering styles. D, E, and F truly are beautiful stitches perfect for heirloom sewing. The cards fit onto the front of the machine and are approx 3 X 5 inches. The machine you purchase will probably have some of these cards with it.
The machine also does what is called omni stitching. These omini designs come on the N and L cards. They are redwork type designs that are quiet beautiful when used correctly. The N and L cards also have 4 way mending stitches. In other words this allows you to sew in all four directions, front, back, side to side. Almost forgot to mention that the machine has memory. You can use memory to combine stitches from one card to another creating your own unique embroidery stitch.
Now for the embroidery unit. It is an arm that attaches to the machine. It comes in a separate storage case from the machine. The embroidery field is 4 X 4 inches. To embroider a larger area, you must rehoop or use what is called a plus hoop. The plus hoop slides from one 4 X 4 area to the next. In all the plus hoop will cover a 5 X 7 inch area.
Now to embroider using the embroidery unit. Once you set it up, the machine will sit there and sew all by itself. Even after all of these years, it just amazes me. So now you have the machine set up for embroidery, all of the adjustments are made, your fabric is in the hoop and and attached to the machine. You need to tell the machine what to embroider. There is a 2 1/2 X 3 inch card that fits into the front of the machine. This card can store up to approximately 30 designs. By using the key pad you tell the machine which of the 30 so designs to sew. The machine will beep as thread color changes are needed.
Now you can purchase these 2 1/2 X 3 inch cards separately OR you can buy a blank programable card and load your our purchased or freebie designs. Husqvarna sells a reader/writer used to load the designs onto the card, you can also use other brands of reader writers/cards, like amazing box that are less expensive. I would highly recommend the flexablity and affordablity of using a blank programable card rather than buying the cards pre-programed with designs. To use the reader/writer you must have a customizing program.
There is a great group on Yahoo that will help you learn your machine. I learned more from them than the dealer or the manual. Hope this was helpful. The machine does have a learning curve but is well worth the effort.

This machine has everything I wanted. I purchased it because I had looked at them at the Viking dealer and it seemed the best buy.