Brother PE800 Embroidery Machine Review

The Brother PE800 is a great embroidery machine for anyone looking to create larger embroidery designs.

This popular embroidery-only machine boasts a useful 5×7 embroidery stitch field, which makes its a versatile option that will handle most of your home embroidery needs.

The PE800 comes with 138 built-in embroidery designs and 11 lettering fonts, so you can start creating beautiful embroideries as soon as you get it. And if you’re looking for more design options, the Brother PE800 has a USB port that lets you import designs from your computer.

While this is one of our favorite embroidery machines from Brother, it’s worth noting that you can’t use this particular model for sewing. It doesn’t have the dual-capabilities of, say, the Brother SE1900.

But that’s not the end of the world if you only need a machine for embroidery projects, especially when the PE800 is around 25-30% cheaper than the SE1900.

Let’s dig a little deeper in our full Brother PE800 embroidery machine review…

Brother PE800 Embroidery Machine: The Details

Who Is The Brother PE800 For?

The Brother PE800 is for the dedicated embroidery enthusiast who is looking for a machine with a larger hoop size that is capable of stitching the vast majority of home embroidery projects.

It’s a fully computerized machine (no foot pedal included) with 138 built-in designs, including 10 frame designs and 11 built-in fonts (7 English, 3 Japanese, 1 Cyrillic).

Beginners can take full advantage of the built-in designs, but intermediate and advanced users will particularly enjoy the ability to import their own designs and truly bring their creative ideas to life.

The machine is much loved in the small business community, and having spent several hours dabbling with our own designs – it’s easy to see why.

There’s not much you can’t do from a home embroidery perspective.

Not much… except sewing.

Unlike the more expensive SE1900 model, which combines both sewing and embroidery in a nearly identical package, the PS800 is strictly for embroidery work.

While it’s not the cheapest embroidery machine on the market, it’s blessed with one of the fastest learning curves. The machine will grow with you as your skill set expands, and its full versatility means that you’re unlikely to be needing an upgrade anytime soon.

What Does The Machine Look Like?

The Brother PE800 Embroidery Machine has a straightforward aesthetic that will be familiar to anybody who has used an older machine from Brother.

It has a white exterior with lavender accents. However, upon further inspection, it becomes clear this is far more than a basic sewing machine. The frame around the needle plate ensures that it is perfect for embroidery, while the LCD touchscreen puts it squarely in the 21st century.

Size-wise, the machine is comparable to a small television.

If you’re looking for a machine that handles larger embroidery projects, you are likely prepared to sacrifice a chunkier machine for that 5×7 embroidery stitch field – so we’re not complaining.

Specs

• Weight: 16.31 lbs.
• Dimensions: 17.13 x 7.91 x 11.49 inches.
• Stitches: 138 built-in designs.
• Speed: 650 spm.
• Computerized/Mechanic: Computerized.
• Bobbin: Drop-in bobbin.
• Warranty: 25-year limited warranty.

What Accessories Are Included With The PE800?

• 5″ x 7″ Embroidery hoop.
• Embroidery foot.
• Bobbins.
• Needle set.
• Cleaning brush.
• Seam ripper.
• Bobbin cover.
• Screwdriver (small).
• Screwdriver (large).
• Disk-shaped screwdriver.
• Spool cap (small).
• Spool cap (medium).
• Spool cap (large).
• Spool cap (mini).
• Spool net.
• Scissors.
• Embroidery bobbin thread.
• Accessory bag.
• Dust cover.
• Manual in English and Spanish.

The Warranty

While the machine is a reliable and sturdy build, it’s always nice to know that you’ve got protection if anything goes wrong.

The standard protection applies here.

The Brother PE800 offers a 25-year limited warranty. As such, for one year, the entire machine is covered; for five years, the circuit board is covered; and for 25 years, the outer unit is covered.

Within these time frames, Brother will fix or replace parts as necessary to ensure your embroidery machine is in proper working order.

The warranty does not cover abuse or misuse of the machine in any way, nor does it cover the accessory items.

Key Features of the Brother PE800

138 Embroidery Designs

The Brother PE800 features 138 built-in designs with eleven different fonts – seven of which are English, three are Japanese, and one is Cyrillic.

You also receive ten different frame shapes and fourteen border styles.

Aside from the built-in designs, you can also leverage editing features to customize what you’re making. You can rotate, mirror-image, increase, or decrease the size of your design however you please.

Even better, the built-in designs can be mixed with ones you find and download from the internet.

It’s great for those running small businesses, or looking to bring their creative ideas to life.

Excellent Color Touchscreen

This Brother machine also includes a 3.2-inch LCD touchscreen.

It allows you to preview your designs in color before embroidering them onto your item. The touchscreen also features editing modes, where you can change the color of your design, rotate it, or otherwise modify it quickly and easily.

Brother named this screen the “Sew Smart” color LCD screen and it is a big upgrade from the black and white screens on found on some older embroidery machines. The addition of the full-color screen allows you to see your design exactly as it should appear on the fabric, true to color.

A major plus.

The included editing mode enables you to change colors of individual threads in your embroidery using the built-in color palette. Picking out the best colors for your project has never been easier.

You can also customize different settings for the machine via the touchscreen. Just scroll through the menu to check out the different options available.

A particularly cool and useful feature of the touchscreen and the editing feature is the ability to change the way the text fits the design you’ve chosen. Of course, you don’t have to add any text to the designs and they are beautiful on their own.

However, the style and shape of names or words added to a design can make or break it, and this machine gives you the ability to style the text shape, font, and size exactly how you like it.

If you are just beginning your embroidery journey, we’d recommend sticking to the pre-set designs while you get to grips with the machine’s capabilities.

But if you’re anything like us, it won’t be long until you disappear down the rabbit hole of customisation and intricate unique designs. Needless to say, some will be better than others!

Memory For Saving Designs

If you strike it lucky with a design, you’ll be grateful for the PE800 machine’s built-in memory.

As such, you can save different designs and have them on hand for your next project – no re-entering needed. It will not only remember the design’s stitches, but also the position they should go in.

For added convenience, you can import designs using the USB slot on the machine’s side. Just connect the PE800 to your computer or plug in a USB stick. You can use designs from iBroidery.com or other sources – just pop them onto the machine using a USB drive and embroider away.

Automatic Bobbin

This embroidery machine has an automatic bobbin winding system, which will produce a perfectly even bobbin. It also has a thread sensor, which will alert you to when the bobbin thread is running low.

The bobbin is visible through the clear cover, but having the alert is a nice touch. Even if you aren’t paying attention to it, you’ll still know when the bobbin is getting low.

Nice Clear Lighting

The Brother PE800 Embroidery Machine comes with a built-in LED light, centered over the sewing area. If you’re working in a dark room or are sewing dark fabric, the light will ensure you can enjoy clear views, and if there’s a mistake or a problem, you can see that right away and fix it.

The bright LED also helps with positioning your embroidery design within the hoop, especially if you are using multiple designs in the same hoop and need to make sure they’re arranged properly.

Automatic Needle Threader

Always nice to have!

With the automatic needle threader, there’s no need to thread the needle yourself; the machine will do it for you. Just press a few levers, hook the thread around a guide and a hook, and the thread will slip right through the needle’s eye.

This feature is particularly useful with embroidery designs that have many different colors incorporated.

Changing the thread constantly for the different colors would be a lot more difficult without the automatic needle threader.

It also saves you from having to squint and strain while threading the needle.

Let’s be honest, nobody’s favorite part of sewing is threading and rethreading the needles, especially not during embroidery with many different colored threads.

With the automatic needle threader, you don’t have to worry about it.

Brother PE800 Embroidery Machine Review

The Positives

It’s Easy to Set Up

While this machine may appear complicated, it’s easy to get started. With the automatic needle threader, the intuitive touchscreen, and the clear buttons and levers, you can have the machine operational within just minutes.

There is also a manual in two languages, should you need extra guidance or an update along the way.

Easy to Use

The Brother PE800 Embroidery Machine is just as straightforward to use as it is to set up.

Once it’s threaded, simply use the touchscreen to choose your embroidery design, set the tension, pick the stitch width and length, and finalize any customized options before beginning. After that, just press the “start” button to let the embroidery process kick off.

While it’s easy to use, that’s not to say that it is limited in application. The learning curve ensures that once you have mastered the basics, the only limit on what you can embroider is your own imagination.

Versatile

With this versatile machine, you won’t be limited to basic designs or simple stitches, nor will you struggle to translate outside designs into your crafts.

Considering its 138 built-in patterns, you can get started right out of the box. Match that to the editing feature and you can develop numerous combinations for those designs. You can change the colors, which way the design is facing, or even rotate the design to perfectly fit your project.

Basic monograms are popular and easily done, as well as names and dates. This can be expanded into infinite possibilities once you add in all the built-in designs that can be personalized with the text.

Additionally, since you can also import designs from your computer, the possibilities really are endless. 

The Negatives

For Embroidery Only

While this machine is great at embroidery, it’s not an A+ sewing machine.

You can’t sew on a button, hem a pair of pants, or put together a bag or a piece of apparel. It’s for embroidery only. If you’re looking for a machine that handles both (even in small measures), you’ll need to seek out other options. We recommend the Brother SE1900.

Unfortunately some people still purchase this machine thinking they can use it for both embroidery and traditional sewing – resulting in confusion and disappointment!

Unless you are planning to join fabric using an embroidered design (which may not work!), there are no settings for normal sewing. This machine doesn’t stitch seams – it’s purely for beautiful decorations.

Expensive

Some feel this machine is too expensive for just embroidery.

It’s definitely not cheap, but it boasts numerous features (and the generous 5×7 embroidery stitch field) that qualify it as a lifetime investment for somebody who loves embroidery.

With the number of designs built in, the computerized touchscreen, the automatic needle threader, the amazing digital editing capabilities, the LED lighting, and all the other features, you’re getting quite a lot of bang for your buck.

Customer Support Issues

Some people encounter issues with Brother’s customer service.

We’ve seen numerous reports of users emailing or calling customer support and receiving vague answers, or having to contact them multiple times to get to the bottom of a problem. There’s definitely room for improvement here.

Brother is known for their quality machines and generous warranties, but if you’re looking for basic troubleshooting, you might end up frustrated.

Thankfully the wider support community on forums and YouTube can be very helpful. 😉

Overall Verdict

We recommend the Brother PE800 Embroidery Machine to anybody who is looking for an embroidery-only machine that will grow with their skill-set.

With its versatility and computerized features, this machine will suit most – if not all – embroidery projects. So long as you’re aware that it only does embroidery and not sewing, it will handle everything you ask of it – and probably a whole lot more.

Where to Buy The Brother PE800 Embroidery Machine

So where can I buy the Brother PE800 machine?

Here are the best places to check:

• Sewing Machines Plus
• Brother USA

And of course, the Brother PE800 Embroidery Machine is available on Amazon.

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That’s our review of the Brother PE800 Embroidery Machine. Are you interested in trying it out?

For more reviews, head over to our complete archives of machine reviews.