I very much liked my Quantum Stylist when it first arrived. Actually, that’s not quite true. The first time I tried the alphabet letters, I got only the top half of the letter. I really didnt want to send the machine back, but after studying the problem, I realized the needle never went onto the left half of its travel. I figured that was either an easy or very complicated fix. I turned the machine upside down on my lap, and after studying things for awhile, realised there was a thing that looked like a little hook just hanging out by itself near where the needle support was. Needle nose pliers pushed it unto the needle support where it looked like it ought to go, and hey presto! Everything worked! So if I’d done a review at that point, I’d have given 4 stars. Either it wasn’t packaged sturdily enough to prevent the little arm from being shaken off in shipping, or it wasn’t assembled or tested right. Don’t know which, but the problem shouldn’t have occurred.
So I was very happy with the machine after that, until I finished a quilt top and went to quilt it with the walking foot. That’s when I discovered a major problem. You cannot use the quilting bar with the walking foot! That is a serious bug. There are other feet that will take the guilting bar, but the walking foot will not. Since the walking foot is recommended for quilting, how are you supposed to maintain an even distance from row to row? I called Singer Customer Care, and they got right back to me. They confirmed that there is no way to use the quilting bar with the walking foot, and there is no other machine with a walking foot to fit the 9960 which has that feature. I have also been unable to find one in the aftermarket. Needless to say, I am not a happy camper. If I’d known that up front, I would never have bought this machine. Quilter beware.
One final problem I have not yet been able to diagnose. It may be user error (me), or it may be some problem with the machine. If you let the bobbin winder fill a bobbin as directed in the instruction manual, you cannot remove the bobbin from the spindle. I have destroyed two bobbins trying to pry them off the spindle. I dont think there is any kind of release lever, but I haven’t checked with Customer Care yet. I’m sufficiently aggravated by this problem, I think I will just get a separate bobbin winder and not bother with Customer Care. I didn’t ding the review another star for this problem, because I’m not sure if it’s my problem or theirs. There was some question initially whether the machine used 15 or 15J bobbins. Various tutorials on the machine from Singer actually give contradictory information. The final word from Customer Care was use 15, not 15J. But now I’m wondering if that was wrong.
Sorry this runs on so long. On the whole it’s a great machine. Clothes and simple stuff are a breeze. But it was advertised as a machine for quilting, and I would say it falls short there.
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