Brother PE525 Review - Sewing Machine Review

If you take Brother PE525 alone, it is a great machine. Smaller embroidery area and the fact that it is an embroidery only machine is a demerit.

Brother PE525 Main Features

4×4 embroidery area
70 built-in embroidery designs
Computer connectivity

Brother PE525 Review

Sewing Machine Reviews Recommendation Level : MODERATE

Brother PE525 is the latest embroidery machine rolled out by Brother. It was released on March 1, 2015. This model came as a marginal update over the popular PE500 model, which was doing quite well in US. The change is not apparent and it is nothing more than a few software updates. However it is still great to have an updated machine than an older one, provided the new one is available at the same or similar price.

Like its predecessor, Brother PE525 is also an embroidery only machine (there are no regular sewing functions like the ever popular SE400). The embroidery area is 4″x4″. There are 70 built-in embroidery designs and 120 frame patterns. There are 5 font styles for lettering and monogramming. The machine comes with computer connectivity, so you can download unlimited number of designs from iBroidery.com or from other websites. PE525 supports only .pes design files. Computer connectivity means you have no limit on creativity.

The 1.4″ x 2.7″ back-lit LCD touch screen is where all the controls are. Design selection, editing and help tutorials are all available on the LCD touch screen. The automatic needle threader saves eye strain. The automatic thread cutter cuts the upper and lower threads with just the push of a button. The workspace is brightly lit by an LED bulb. The drop-in bobbin with clear cover is a very user-friendly feature. The clear cover is really handy as you can keep an eye on the thread supply.

Brother PE525 also has the ability to rotate designs by 1, 10 or 90 degrees. The lay out function gives you an idea about how the design will look like. You can also combine designs on this machine. It has a good motor that can deliver 400 stitches/min. The machine weighs 18.1 pounds, which makes it hard to move around (compared to other machines in the category). It comes with 25 year limited warranty.

Usability

The embroidery area of 4″x4″ is pretty good for home sewers (professionals might require something larger). This is a very easy machine to use. Even people with no previous experience with embroidery machines can figure out its functions quite easily. Do not forget to set the tension right, which is the main trouble maker while starting out. One good thing is that, Brother provided an excellent, well detailed user manual with this machine. Everything is included in the manual and you can also have a look at the built-in tutorials on the machine itself.

The designs look perfect. I am very much impressed with the stitch quality. Great stitch quality has always been a hallmark of PE series machines from Brother. The machine is very quiet, the operation is very smooth as well. The LCD display is crisp and clear. It also has an option to adjust the brightness which is not a common feature. The machine even warns you if anything goes wrong, so that you don’t do something really stupid and end up causing serious damage to it.

Limitations

The small embroidery area has always been a question mark over Brother PE525. This area is good enough for small things but if you are really serious about embroidery, you will need a machine like Brother PE770 which has 5×7 embroidery area. But for that, you will have to shell out couple of hundred dollars more.

Pros

Quality stitches
Computer connectivity
Lot of features

Cons

Small embroidery area
Embroidery only

Is It Worth Buying?

Brother PE525 is a good option for a beginner but it is not a great option. The reason is because it is an embroidery only machine. For beginners who are not sure of their embroidery prospects, Brother SE400 would be a better option especially if you don’t have a regular sewing machine at home. SE400 is a sewing and embroidery combo machine. It has all the embroidery features of PE525 (3 less built-in stitches) and it can do regular sewing as well. Even interesting thing is that SE400 is less expensive than PE525 (prices do fluctuate, but this is the general trend). My point is, why invest on an embroidery only machine when you can get a combo machine for lesser price. SE400 is that good a machine, which is the reason why it features in our list of ‘Machines You Can Buy With Your Eyes Shut’.