# Looking at buying an electronic machine Brother vs. Silver Reed/Studio



## rlhanlon (Feb 18, 2015)

Hello...
I am looking at buying a new-to-me electronic machine. I currently have a Brother KH260 and ribber and a Studio 700 and ribber. I like them both, but am wanting to go electronic for the standard gauge. Both have their respective knit leader or knit radar which is the only way I knit something like a sweater. I bought the Studio 700 about 20 years ago and have used the machines off and on for that whole time. I consider myself pretty experienced on the machines.

I will eventually get DAK, but it is outside the price range to add to the machine to begin with. This rules out the Silver Reed Sk840.

I have researched a lot on line but have a few questions about the Brother 930 or 940 type machine vs the Silver Reed SK560/580. 

My understanding is that the Brother machines all come with built in stitch patterns, so you don't need to scan in or manually enter stitch patterns unless you want to. I have looked at the pattern book and they look like they would cover the majority of the tuck/slip stitch patterns I would ever use. It would only be the fair isle which I would enter and I think those are done by hand (no mylar scanning).

The Silver Reed does not have any stitches built in. It has to read a stitch pattern to do anything unless you do it all by hand. But scanning in a pattern is fairly simple looking and it is easy to create your own.

If my understanding is correct, my next question is whether either machine allows you to place multiple patterns across the bed. For example, if I have a pic of a car and a train and bus, could I put all three across for fair isle? This would be especially good for putting pictures of fancy letters across the bed, for example the brim of a hat.

Two things are making me lean heavily to the Brother 
1. The software for IMG2TRACK.
2. A garter carriage.

Also, I understand how both machine types do lace and I am OK with either one. I don't consider the lace to be a deciding point at this time.

Any advice the collective KP world has to offer?


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## jaysclark (Jan 26, 2013)

I would get a Brother 970

It has 665 built in patterns, you can also direct input patterns and use img2track

You can place up to 9 different motifs in a row

It has a built in, electronic knitleader


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## cynthiaknits (Oct 19, 2011)

The Brother.


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## JeanneO (Jan 2, 2012)

I have the Brother 965i with the Garter Carriage and I wouldn't part with them for any amount of money. I have never had an electronic Studio brand but their manual machines are of excellent quality just like the Brothers. Good luck in your search.


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## Lindajoy (Sep 6, 2015)

BROTHER everytime!!!


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## suedenie (Nov 15, 2015)

Hi, I love my Brother 950i. Electronic. I have the Disc Drive & PPD so I have a great range of patterning as well as the 555 stored in the knitting machine.
My friend has the Brother 970 Electronic she swears by it. I don't thing you can go wrong with a BROTHER machine. The lace carriage for both machines is so easy and light to use.
Hope you make the right decision for you.
Great site KP you should get a good response to your queries.
Regards Sue


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## deemail (Jan 25, 2011)

i know a lot of people will respond and bring up a lot of reasons that will shed light on your decision... I love the manual aspect of the simpler machines so I'm not a lot of help.. i love taking it camping and being able to knit when the power' out.. but I only knit for myself so fast isn't a consideration... I really hope you find the machine that's right for you and that we get to see a lot of nice products.. I'll be the one in the back still knitting..... lol.... good luck...


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## Maryknits513 (Feb 12, 2011)

The lace carriage for the Silver Reed/Studio machines is an expensive extra. Granted, it is a fully functioning carriage that you can knit with, and does simple lace designs as you knit. Fashion lace with multiple transfers in the same row means taking the yarn out of the carriage before the transfers, and remembering to put the yarn back BEFORE trying to knit the rows. I have SR lace carriage for my 560, but only used it for testing. 

The lace carriage is included with most Brother standard gauge machines. You need to use both the main carriage and the lace carriage to knit fabric. However, with the Brother lace carriage I'm not going to have the knitting fall on the floor because I forgot to put the yarn back in the carriage after the transfers,


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## linalu (Jun 20, 2013)

I have the Brother 930 and 970. Although I loved the 930 for many years, the 970 is worlds beyond. Especially in size of patterns, the fact that you can use nine different patterns across the row, and the built-in garment shaper is superb! Good luck in your search!


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## KarlaHW (Jan 6, 2012)

Obviously the Brother 970 is the top of the line for the Brother machines. If you get a good deal that would be a perfect machine. The 965i can do 3 different motifs next to each other (I think so), the Brother 930 and 940 only one. But if you ever get DAK that does not matter anymore. If you have DAK in my opinion there is no advantage of a higher model. Brother 940's are easier to find than 970 and much lower in price. The Brother 930 has a much smaller memory, so I would choose the 940. It would be very similar to the 260 you already have.


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## Reba1 (Feb 5, 2012)

I have the 940 and love it. Funny how often I use it in manual mode, without even plugging it in. 

You could do a car, train and bus motif, but you would have to program it in yourself. You can input programming across the whole bed, versus 24 stitches with a punchcard. 

Or another thought - if you eventually get Img2track, you could do that type of motif with it, couldn't you (I don't have it, so don't really know for sure). 

Access to parts and repair service as needed might be a consideration for you too. Although you are in WA state, and I think Needle-Tek is still going!


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## Jacaranda (Feb 20, 2013)

The Silver Reed SK840 standard electronic machine require either DAK or an EC1 controller if you want to do automatic patterning. 
So if cost is an issue then brother would be a better bet even though they are not made anymore.

The Sk560 is a mid gauge machine and are hard to find as they are not made anymore either. All Silver Reed modular systems require either an EC1 controller or DAK if you want to do any patterning. 

As previously said the lace carriages are expensive around 500.00 dollars.


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## gajh (Dec 21, 2012)

If you go with Silver Reed there is another pattern
option I don't think EC1 is in use there is something called Silver Box and silver link I have seen at Knit'n Serge as well as All Brands both on line much less than dak or ec1 I believe you need' DAK for one but only a computer for the other. I think they offer Silver Reed as new machines also. Another info-type place I would check out.Best to you


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## JaniceK (Mar 30, 2011)

Jacaranda said:


> The Sk560 is a mid gauge machine and are hard to find as they are not made anymore either. All Silver Reed modular systems require either an EC1 controller or DAK if you want to do any patterning.
> 
> As previously said the lace carriages are expensive around 500.00 dollars.


The SK560 is a standard gauge - the SK860 is the mid-gauge. An SK560 will run about $500. The lace carriages are about $200 or less.

The 560 has the EC1 (reads mylars) built in as well as a built-in Knit Radar (reads paper pattern shapes). The 840 came after but does not have the EC1 or KR built in. The electronics of the 560 are in the carriages, so using its "curly cord" & a DAK cable, you can connect it to DAK on your computer. But 560's mylars are limited to 60-stitch wide stitch patterns. With DAK, there is no such limit.

We all gravitate to our favorite KM brand, and I personally prefer Singers because they "glide" easily. A good unbiased review/comparison for research can be found at aboutknittingmachines.com

The SilverKnit box includes all the Singer patterns but costs almost as much as DAK, but does not do what DAK can do (including interactive knitting in lieu of a KR). I have both, but would not have bot the Silverknit box if I'd known.

Good luck w/ your search & a decision.


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## capricorn (Jul 24, 2013)

I have the Silver Reed 840 with the EC1 and PE1,to which I can download patterns from DAK and love the fact that I can actually see the pattern as I go, on the PE1
Patterning is very easy to put right if you have to take back any rows and pick up the ptn. row. It is far easier that my 950i for that.

Admit though I love the fact of all the patterns on the memory of the 950i and actually feel the lace is easier to do.

I think in your case I would go for the Brother.


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## Barcoded (Jul 28, 2015)

I'm also considering this conundrum! The Internet has many discussions about the failure of Brother computer parts as already stated Brothers are no longer made.


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## Rita in Raleigh (Aug 20, 2011)

The brother 930 or 940 will allow you to program in as many as 6 different motifs across the needlebed. You can use a built in pattern (or parts of it) or you could input a stitch pattern. Inputting could be through DAK, when you have gotten around to purchasing it, or through using the two buttons (one black and one white). The black is the selected needle ( brought to D) and the white is the unselected needle (stays in B)

With those 2 input buttons you could devise or put into your machine a stitch pattern for tuck or slip or fairisle or whatever. Yes, it is slow, but you do not need to buy DAK or another outside method (software and cables).

The 940 has a bigger memory than the 930. With the 940 I can download a complete baby afghan pattern (200 stitches and 350 rows) at once, but the 930 needs to have less info at once (200 stitches and 100 rows? then download the rest of the pattern??).

I like best the brother 965i. Its advantage over the 940 is that 965i can have up to 9 motifs per row. The 970 can also have up to 9 motifs.

Also the brother machines can be used manually to knit fairisle etc. but the SR machines cannot. With brother you can pull the stitches to D (upper working) or even E (and pretend it is upper working) and knit your fairisle with the proper carriage settings. The SR machines choose and move the stitches to upper working position within the carriage and not before it.

And I love my garter carriages!!

Rita in Raleigh, NC



rlhanlon said:


> Hello...
> I am looking at buying a new-to-me electronic machine. I currently have a Brother KH260 and ribber and a Studio 700 and ribber. I like them both, but am wanting to go electronic for the standard gauge. Both have their respective knit leader or knit radar which is the only way I knit something like a sweater. I bought the Studio 700 about 20 years ago and have used the machines off and on for that whole time. I consider myself pretty experienced on the machines.
> 
> I will eventually get DAK, but it is outside the price range to add to the machine to begin with. This rules out the Silver Reed Sk840.
> ...


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## KarlaHW (Jan 6, 2012)

Rita in Raleigh said:


> The brother 930 or 940 will allow you to program in as many as 6 different motifs across the needlebed. You can use a built in pattern (or parts of it) or you could input a stitch pattern. Inputting could be through DAK, when you have gotten around to purchasing it, or through using the two buttons (one black and one white). The black is the selected needle ( brought to D) and the white is the unselected needle (stays in B)
> 
> Rita in Raleigh, NC


Rita,
is this correct? With the Brother 930 or 940 I can either do an all over repeat of motifs or I can put the motifs beginning at certain positions, maybe up to 6. But it has to be all the same motif. Only on 965 and above can it be a different motif. Is there more on the 940 that I missed to figure out?
I like to do the 200 stitch wide designs, but without DAK or at least PPD that is very tedious, but can be done.


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## MtKnitter (Dec 10, 2011)

The studio 580 was the first electronic machine that I bought and I love how easy it is to do my own patterns by drawing in a mylar. I have a pe-1 but have never used it. I do believe that you can use it to pattern all across the needle bed. If you considered buying DAK, it is much more expensive for the cables that you use with the silver reed machines. I have now acquired a 930 and recently a 940. I like all the patterns programed in to the machines but it's harder for me to enter my own stitch patterns. I love how the studio does lace and I love the weaving arm. I love the garter carriage for the brother machines. They all have their benefits and limitations. That's why it's so hard to stop at one.


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## fibreoptiks (Jun 19, 2013)

rlhanlon said:


> The Silver Reed does not have any stitches built in. It has to read a stitch pattern to do anything unless you do it all by hand. But scanning in a pattern is fairly simple looking and it is easy to create your own.
> 
> Two things are making me lean heavily to the Brother
> 1. The software for IMG2TRACK.
> 2. A garter carriage.


The SK560 has been my favourite machine for years. There are no patterns "built-in" but they exist on mylar sheets which are easy to insert and read. Also, drawing up a new pattern is easier than with the Brother system of inputting stitch by stitch. However without DAK or SilverKnit or a PE-1, you are limited to 60 stitches. Silverknit is a box and cable that bypasses the EC-1 built in to the SK560, and allows you to have a 200 st width pattern. The SilverKnit box and cable also work with or without DAK, so it would be useful to you when you upgrade to DAK. 
The DAK cables for Brother are much cheaper than for SR, so that is one point in its favour.
The lace carriage should be included with SK560, but not with SK580.
The colour changer for the SR (YC-6) will do both single bed and double bed, and is more automatic than the Brother ones, which require separate single and double bed changers.
I recently bought a Brother 930 for exactly the reasons you site, but my "go to" machine is still the SK560.
I think that you would enjoy either the SR or the Brother, it just depends on which you find first.


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## Rita in Raleigh (Aug 20, 2011)

KarlaHW said:


> Rita,
> is this correct? With the Brother 930 or 940 I can either do an all over repeat of motifs or I can put the motifs beginning at certain positions, maybe up to 6. But it has to be all the same motif. Only on 965 and above can it be a different motif. Is there more on the 940 that I missed to figure out?
> I like to do the 200 stitch wide designs, but without DAK or at least PPD that is very tedious, but can be done.


Sorry, Karla, I mis-read the manual. The 930 or 940 does do up to 6 motifs but they must all be the same stitch design.

The 965i and 970 let you enter a pattern number for each motif.

I was trying to read a downloaded manual for the 930 and it is really hard to find info while scrolling through the manual.

Rita in Raleigh


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## rlhanlon (Feb 18, 2015)

Wow...as always, KPers have really made things easier.

OK, I think I am swung to looking for the Brother. I like the 970, but seem to be in short supply. But Ebay and all are going to be my haunts for a while.....

Thanks again everyone!!


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## Maryknits513 (Feb 12, 2011)

Barcoded said:


> I'm also considering this conundrum! The Internet has many discussions about the failure of Brother computer parts as already stated Brothers are no longer made.


True, but my almost 30 year old Brother 940 is still working fine. The Brother 910s, a couple years older than the 930,seem to have a higher failure rate.


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## MaryAnneCutler (Jul 31, 2013)

Keep in mind, new parts are available for the Silver Reed products. Parts for other machines are very limited, if at all.


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## jaysclark (Jan 26, 2013)

Macon said:


> Keep in mind, new parts are available for the Silver Reed products. Parts for other machines are very limited, if at all.


There are lots of parts available for Brother machines


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## Maryknits513 (Feb 12, 2011)

The Brother 930 memory holds a maximum of 200 sts X 68 rows, or 13,600 sts.

I can download three 200 sts X 400 row afghans into the 940 with a little bit of memory left over. That's at least 240,000 sts, or 17.5 times more memory than the 930.


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## rlhanlon (Feb 18, 2015)

Wow, that is a big difference. OK, my list keeps getting smaller. The 930 was on the list before, but I think I will definitely not go below the 940 then. I have seen some of them locally on Craigslist.



Maryknits513 said:


> The Brother 930 memory holds a maximum of 200 sts X 68 rows, or 13,600 sts.
> 
> I can download three 200 sts X 400 row afghans into the 940 with a little bit of memory left over. That's at least 240,000 sts, or 17.5 times more memory than the 930.


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## 30Knitter (Apr 9, 2012)

Since you were requesting information regarding the 930 or 940, I would opt for the 940. The difference between the 2 machines is memory. The 940 has more memory than the 930. Instead of taking several sections of pattern, the 940 will take the whole pattern. There are 555 built in patterns. They cover lace, thread lace, tuck, tuck lace, fairisle, motif, garter carriage, double jacquard, slip, slip mosaic and tuck mosaic.


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## SteveD (Aug 14, 2012)

AYAB has a hack for the 910 machine and allows using a computer with interactive knitting and across all 200 needles. So when the mylar reader fails the machine is still usable with this hack and a much better pattern capability.

Steve in PA



Maryknits513 said:


> True, but my almost 30 year old Brother 940 is still working fine. The Brother 910s, a couple years older than the 930,seem to have a higher failure rate.


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## SteveD (Aug 14, 2012)

The 560 will not use the PE1 since it does not have the port to connect the PE1. You can use the PE1 with the 560 but you need an external EC1 as it has the port you need. You then turn off the 560 and connect the carriage to the external EC1 setup. The 580 machine has the port and can use the PE1

SilverLink is the cable that works with DAK. SilverKnit is the cable that uses downloaded software that has the mylar patterns built in. You can also use SilverKnit with DAK. So it is the best of both worlds. I believe DAK has the Silver Reed mylars in its programming so SilverLink and DAK gives everything. SilverKnit has it's own software and doesn't need DAK saving the cost of DAK but the cable is more expensive than SilverLink.

Steve in PA



fibreoptiks said:


> The SK560 has been my favourite machine for years. There are no patterns "built-in" but they exist on mylar sheets which are easy to insert and read. Also, drawing up a new pattern is easier than with the Brother system of inputting stitch by stitch. However without DAK or SilverKnit or a PE-1, you are limited to 60 stitches. Silverknit is a box and cable that bypasses the EC-1 built in to the SK560, and allows you to have a 200 st width pattern. The SilverKnit box and cable also work with or without DAK, so it would be useful to you when you upgrade to DAK.
> The DAK cables for Brother are much cheaper than for SR, so that is one point in its favour.
> The lace carriage should be included with SK560, but not with SK580.
> The colour changer for the SR (YC-6) will do both single bed and double bed, and is more automatic than the Brother ones, which require separate single and double bed changers.
> ...


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## SteveD (Aug 14, 2012)

One of the best knitting machines I had was a 930 but I believe it had more to do with the condition of the machine. It was in pristine condition apparently from lack of use. It didn't come with a power cord or a sinker plate, but I ordered a new sinker plate from Sunny Choi and a cord from Leaneco. It never failed me. I didn't need the extra memory for large patterns at the time. I have a Singer 560 which is the same machine as Silver Reed and Studio. Mylars aren't the easiest things to come by so if the machine doesn't have a fair amount in good condition then you will need a SilverLink box/cable to use with DAK or a SilverKnit box/cable that uses DAK or it own downloadable interactive software which has the Silver Reed mylar patterns.

I'm liking my Brother machines and the garter carriage makes awesome ribbing among other very nice patterns howbeit slow.

I purchased another 940 machine after selling my 930 and 940. I have a 965 converted to 965i machine but it need a very good cleaning at this point to make me like it as well as the 930 I previously had. Also if you get a machine with a carriage that has KCI and KCII on the dial, you won't have to turn the carriage over and flip over the end needle selector on the bottom with the single needle transfer tool which I find very confusing. Not sure now that the 930 had this but my KH940E does. The E stands for Elantra which was the model they produced in their anniversary year, I think 25th year. I don't know why but every Elantra machine I have had seemed to work exceptionally well. They are marked by the light blue accents.

Steve in PA


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## 30Knitter (Apr 9, 2012)

SteveD said:


> AYAB has a hack for the 910 machine and allows using a computer with interactive knitting and across all 200 needles. So when the mylar reader fails the machine is still usable with this hack and a much better pattern capability.
> 
> Steve in PA


I was just given a 910 and thinking about AYAB but going to look at more information first.


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## MaryAnneCutler (Jul 31, 2013)

jaysclark said:


> There are lots of parts available for Brother machines


Perhaps, more so in the UK


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## jaysclark (Jan 26, 2013)

Macon said:


> Perhaps, more so in the UK


Hong Kong and Leanneco in US to name but 2 suppliers


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## KateWood (Apr 30, 2011)

30Knitter said:


> I was just given a 910 and thinking about AYAB but going to look at more information first.


Let us know how it goes


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