If you looking for a state-of-the-art embroidery machine with great quality—and value for your money, along with some extra features, then you should consider the Brother PE800. It’s an easy to use model that delivers top quality results in a variety of styles.
Brother is a well-known, popular brand. The PE800 is one of Brother’s finest achievements. This model comes with advanced features making it very accurate, precise, and reliable. When you buy this model, you know it will be good for all kinds of sewing.
This is an embroidery only machine and it’s really good for both professionals and beginners and, while it is priced accordingly, it operates and functions more like a professional machine.
Note for beginners: It's important to know that embroidery only should be read to mean easier to work with. This is because most combination embroidery / sewing machines are more complex and you need to make more configurations and adjustments to use it for embroidery.
Brother PE800 Review
We’ve found that Brother PE800 is more specialized and affordable than other models reviewed.
The embroidery machines features many excellent characteristics that make the entire embroidery process easier, this machine is pretty easy to setup and is the overall usability is simple. This is a great choice for both professionals and for beginners.
This is an updated version of the Brother PE770 embroidery machine (See #5 on this page).
The previous model also received a lot of positive reviews from our users. However, the PE800 has earned a far better reputation than is predecessor. Should you decide to go with the PE770 instead, please know that there are a lot of characteristics of both machines that, of course, will make your embroidery journey quick effortless with this all-in unit.
The PE800 has a USB port for you to import your own designs and comes standard with 138 designs built-in along with 7 english fonts.
If you are new to the working with embroidery machines the terms bobbin winder or spool cap or how a carriage works may be a little overwhelming at first you can down the PE800 Operations Manual for troubleshooting and basic operations . But, if you are like me, I am most excited about the LCD screen with all of the settings—I need a lot of pictures. And fortunately, the operating manual helps with this starting on page B-9 (page 19).
Note for beginners: please be sure to read the Caution statements about parts and usage as these will be important to safety and the continued operation of this fantastic piece of equipment. And, be sure to always turn off the machine before remove the embroidery unit (there is a release button on the left-hand side).
With the Brother PE800, there is decent amount of workspace for you to customize until you get the design just the way you want it. And, one of the things we hear most often that people like about the PE800 is that a lot of the customizing can be done right in the machine without the need to do it offline using software. This makes the machine great for quick changes, alterations or designing completely from scratch!
01.
Brother Exclusives
Choose from a variety of exclusive patterns created by Brother.
02.
Floral Alphabet Patterns
Beautiful and ornate floral designs for unique alphabet patterns.
03.
Character Patterns
Characters and and designs from beach fronts to turkeys (not pictured)
04.
Frame Patterns
Create that perfect frame for a new baby and or an award for a client success.
The touchscreen is in full color and really easy to use. The buttons are designed as pads so that you won’t get a build up of dust and dirt—just wipe it down with a cloth and you’re good to go!
We definitely did not like Brother’s Design Guide. This is really across the board with Brother products and not just the PE800. This guide is an amalgamation of multiple foreign languages which truly makes it difficult to understand at first until you slog through it. Oh well, at least it has pictures!
But despite the obvious drawback—the guide does provide useful information and you can still get a lot of use out of it. Why don’t they just break it up into languages by section?
On a scale of 1 to 10 we give the Brother PE800 a solid 9!
This embroidery machine is so easy to use, and its worth repeating, that it is an obvious choice with a 7″ hoop for both professionals and beginners and you won’t pay thousands like you would for higher-end machines.
Brother PE800 Accessories
The Brother PE800 embroidery machine comes with a wide assortment of accessories including:
- 5″x7″ Embroidery Hoop
- Instruction Manual
- Design Guide
- Embroidery Foot
- Dust Cover
- 4 x Bobbins
- Spool Net (to keep thread from fraying)
- Basic Needle Set
- Spool Caps (various sizes)
- Cleaning Brush
- Scissors
- Bobbin Cover
- Seam Ripper
- Screwdriver (for minor settings)
And, for information about Brother’s optional accessories you can download their Accessories Catalog.
Brother PE800 Key Specifications
Here are some key aspects that will hopefully provide you with a better understanding about why we like this incredible machine.
Uncomplicated Bobbin Winding
The bobbin is an essential component of an embroidery machine. This model has an excellent bobbin winding system specially designed for beginners who don’t know much about using embroidery machines.
Large Working Area
The Brother PE800 embroidery machine has ample working space for embroidery work, at 5″ x 7″. Another benefit of this mid- to large-sized machine is that you don’t need to rehoop several times while completing your embroidery tasks.
You can easily handle an extra-large size embroidery design where the division of the cloth is impossible. You can adjust the same fabric in different small options, and easy hoop adjustment can handle large designs.
Adequate Speed
The speed of producing embroidery designs often matters a lot—the PE800 embroidery machine has a moderate speed.
While not the highest speed brother offers, it is more than adequate when making medium to large embroidery designs.
The stitching speed of the PE800 is 650 stitches per minute, and you can decrease it according to your embroidery design’s complexity.
In our experience, 650 stitches per minute are not the fastest, but it’s still faster than many other embroidery machine models on the market.
The LCD display lets you keep track of stitching speed and can easily be adjusted.
As a benchmark, you can easily embroider a large logo within 10 minutes with it.
Built-in Embroidery Designs
This innovative embroidery machine comes with plenty of built-in embroidery designs. This top-notch embroidery machine has 138 built-in patterns where each design is unique. Designs include holiday, floral, decorative, and many other elegant patterns. Another noteworthy point is that 26 of the 138 patterns here feature floral designs. You can also download or use hundreds of more designs by importing them with a USB.
The PE800 is also easy to customize. You can edit, rotate, mirror, increase size, decrease the size, or perform many editing options to any design. If you want to read more about the design, visit page 18 in the manual. You will be guided thoroughly about the needle types and estimated time to perform a specific embroidery task. The included CD comes with 15000 beautiful built-in designs to offer you a wide range of choices.
Likewise, the 11 built-in font styles are a plus to personalize the designs. Those fonts are available in three languages such as 7 English fonts, 3 Japanese fonts, and 1 Cyrillic font. If you are still stuck on how to use them, browse the internet.
The features do not end here. It comes with ten different frame shapes having 14 unique border patterns. The frame patterns are square, circle, rectangle, heart shapes, octagons, and many other shapes.
Software Type
The PE800 machine does not come with any special software. Many people use Hatch embroidery, embrilliance, and SewArt. Its great to shop around and if you can get a free trial you’ll have a chance to learn which software is best.
There are also free software, for example, Ink/Stitch software; just don’t forget to check the software compatibility with PE800 before getting used to it. It’s always better to read the reviews before installing on your machine.
Editing Functions
The built-in functions are what really make this machine stand out. The Brother PE800 embroidery machine offers incredible editing functions making your editing work a breeze. You can edit designs and track how the stitches are converted into a beautiful design through the screen. In short, you can observe how a design starts from the beginning.
Additionally, you can add or eliminate different embroidery patterns to create designs according to your needs and requirements. You just edit or customize the option by tapping on a high-quality touch screen, choose from pre-installed fonts, select the design, and it’s all done.
There is built-in memory to import your customized designs using USB. You can easily change pattern sizes, combine different patterns, change thread colors, and more.
Moreover, you can also get help by watching the tutorials online. Here is one we’ve selected for you:
High-Resolution LCD Screen
The Brother PE800 comes with a high-resolution and large 3.2-inches LED touch screen display. The LEC is colorful, which gives you a realistic view of each embroidery design. The sensitivity is at its highest to make the operation easier. In our experience, using the LCD screen is a piece of cake, and you will like it due to its quality.
This is one of the main components of this machine enabling you to manage different operations such as design rearrangement, selection, editing, automatic work, and other exciting features.
This is a high-quality touchscreen and whether you want to use curve letters or monogram design, everything is possible through configuration. Scroll the screen to find the preinstalled designs, fonts, and other exciting features such as mirror images, size alterations, etc.
Free Movement For Quilt & Applique
This embroidery machine is a multitasking machine that can perform quilting tasks perfectly. However, you may want to first download the quilting designs as the device does not offer pre-installed designs. This is a helpful function, and it also helps you get elegant embroidery work in a short amount of time.
The automatic functions, speed, and free movement for quilting & applique make this machine loved by everyone.
Illuminated Working Work
Embroidery work needs focused detail, and an illuminated working area is a perfect solution. The lightning reveals every piece of the embroidery work to get your desired results.
The PE800 has a perfect bright working space that you can adjust according to your needs and requirements. The LED lights are placed at different positions to ensure light is everywhere. The lights not only illuminate the work area, but you can also observe the needlework as it’s also lit perfectly.
Automatic Features of the Brother PE800
With the advancement of technology, brands have started to add intelligent features to embroidery machines. Brother PE800 is also a masterpiece from the Brother brand, having several autonomous features due to intelligent circuitry. Let’s look at the significant automatic embroidery characteristics of this incredible machine.
Important Aspect of the Brother PE800
Here is an important thing you should be aware of before selecting this top-notch machine.
Single Thread Operation
The PE800 is not a multi-thread embroidery machine. It only works with a single thread for all types of stitching work. This doesn’t prevent you from producing multi-color embroidery designs. You just need to change the thread. You can do this easily by using the touchscreen commands to follow the thread-changing process.
Thread-changing is the only manual process. The reason for this is that with most automatic embroidery machines, there are no options for foot pedals. On the PE800 almost all the functions are automatic and controlled by a touchscreen. These buttons control almost every operation along with a thread trimmer knob to simplify things.
If you are new to embroidery, and as you acclimate to the machine, we recommend that you start stitching slowly and increase your speed with experience—you should definitely not begin stitching at full speed to start.
Advantages of the Brother PE800
Easy-to-Use
The Brother PE800 Embroidery Machine is an easy-to-use machine for both beginners and professionals. Even the setup is simple.
Easy-to-Setup
First, thread the machine and choose what operation you want using the LCD screen. Check the tension, select the right size for your design, finalize it, and just press the “Start” button.
Versatile
With the PE800 you can stitch complex designs—your aren’t limited to only simple designs. The 138 built-in designs and extensive features, rotating, sizing, and endless personalization settings give you the perfect stich.
Disadvantages of the Brother PE800
Every embroidery machine has some key differences. In addition to the Single Thread Operation as we just mentioned above, there are some other aspects to this machine that we find disadvantageous:
Not a Sewing Machine
PE800 is an embroidery only machine and is not suitable for general sewing-related tasks.
A bit Expensive
If we compare it with other embroidery machines, it’s a slightly more expensive. In our opinion, however, it is well worth its price as it has many incredible features and is built for simplicity (which doesn’t me loss of capabilities).
Overall, this is an machine has all of the necessary features such as a high-quality touchscreen, digital editing, LED lighting, and is quiet working.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the brother PE800 worth it?
Brother PE800 comes with many excellent features, quality build and is suitable for beginners and professionals. In our experience and according to customer reviews, this machine is worth the money you spend. Also, it’s a dedicated embroidery machine.
Has the Brother PE800 been discontinued?
No, the Brother PE800 is a current, top-notch quality embroidery machine that replaces the Brother PE770. It’s one of the most loved machines due to its incredible features.
Can you sew with the Brother PE800?
Remember that Brother PE800 is a dedicated embroidery machine, and not a traditional sewing machine. That means you can only perform embroidery tasks with it.
When was the Brother PE800 made?
The Brother PE800 was first launched on April 16, 2018.
What are the dimensions for the Brother PE800?
The Brother PE800 embroider machine has the following dimensions of 21.75 x 19.02 x 19.09 inches.
What size hoop comes with brother PE800?
The hoop size of the Brother PE800 embroidery machine is 5″ x 7″. This size is suitable for medium to large-size embroidery work. If you want extra-large embroidery, you need to divide it into sections. In short, it’s ideal for all types of home embroidery work.
The Final Verdict
We have shared all the important details about this embroidery machine. And, after analyzing the usage, features, pros, cons, and other aspects, we would definitely recommend this amazing machine for beginners and professionals. It has plenty of positive reviews due to its ease of use and versatility. We hope you won’t regret your experience with it.
