Janome 350E Review

Even though Janome 350E has very good stitch quality, it is not without problems. There are some areas where it needs improvement.

Janome 350E Memory Craft Embroidery Machine – Main Features

  • 100 built-in embroidery designs
  • Automatic needle threader and thread cutter
  • 4″ x 4″ and 5″ x 7″ hoops
  • USB stick compatibility

Janome 350E Review

Sewing Machine Reviews Recommendation Level : MODERATE

First things first, this is not an embroidery machine for beginners. It is an expensive machine, designed for serious professionals. Janome 350E is an embroidery only machine. It comes with 100 built-in embroidery designs, 3 fonts and 2 & 3 letter monogramming. The machine comes with two hope sizes. The standard 5″ x 4.3″  and the large 5.5″ x 7.9″. The 5″ x 7″ hoop is more important for a professional. The larger embroidery area provides a lot of freedom for creativity. You can buy a Giga Hoop if you want to stitch a design in larger area. Giga hoop is more like two 5″ x 7″ hoops joined together, so you will stitch half the design, then flip the hoop and stitch out the remaining half. Janome Giga Hoop costs few dollars though.

Janome 350E supports USB stitcks, which means you can download and copy designs from the internet and plug it into the machine. It also has ATA PC card slot.  This machine has a lovely backlit LCD touch screen. Almost all controls and settings are on the touch screen. Once you select a stitch, the screen will ask you which hoop you are going to use and then the screen will display all the information regarding that particular design including the time required and the number of colors involved. In the edit mode, you can change the size from 90% – 110% by 1% and you can rotate design in 1 and 45 degree increments. 1 degree increment rotation is a very nice feature as most other machines come with 45 degree rotation only.

Janome 350E has a lot of little features that adds to the ease of use. It may not sound much, but in combination, all those features makes 350E a wonderful machine to use. It has features like automatic thread cutter, automatic needle threader, built-in memory to store custom designs, drag and drop design editing, stitching time indicator, embroidery area tracing, stitch counter, manual tension control and upper thread & presser foot sensors. Another useful feature is the bobbin out indicator, which warns you when the machine runs out of thread. Another good one is the ability to skip stitches where you have run out of thread and continue stitching areas where you have the thread for. Even better is the ability to go right back to the position where it skipped the stitches and finish the remaining part.

Usability

Janome 350E is an easy to learn embroidery machine, there is nothing complicated about this machine. The quality of the stitches is very very good. I am really impressed with the stitch quality. It has the ability to stitch at a speed of 650 stitches/min.  The machine will also tell you if something is wrong, thereby preventing damage to your project.

Limitations

The bobbin out indicator does not always work right.

The built-in embroidery designs may not be appealing to all. I personally feel, Janome could have included better designs.

Do not use a USB stick loaded with a lot of designs, the machine will have trouble reading them. Also, it is not recommended to use USB sticks over 4GB memory as it tends to freeze at times.

Pros

  • Easy to use
  • High quality stitches

Cons

  • Expensive
  • Not living up to Janome’s brand quality

Verdict

Being a workhorse, the price point is absolutely perfect for real professionals. But still, I am not highly convinced by Janome 350E. I probably can point out at least 4 areas where Janome could have done a better job with this machine. Some users had to take this machine to the repair shop within the first couple of months, which is not really acceptable for a machine of this price range.

If the embroidery area of 5″ x 7″ is enough for you, you would be better of considering Brother PE770. It is not an ideal replacement for Janome 350E, but I am sure about the quality and performance of that machine. It is the best embroidery only machine in the under $600 category. You can have a look at our post on Best Embroidery Machines Under $600 for more information.


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