When you are seeking for an embroidery machine that holds a good value for your money, you may stumble across Brother PE500 and Brother SE400. As the two models are available in the same price class, you may get confused in choosing between them. Well, Brother PE500 is a little bit cheaper than Brother SE400 by a few tens of bucks. Why is the price difference? Besides the price, in what ways do they differ? We will see below!
Design
There is one crucial difference between Brother PE500 and Brother SE400, and this most often becomes the primary reason for your final choice. You should be aware that Brother PE500 is an embroidery-only machine. It is designed only to perform embroidery. On the other hand, Brother SE400 is a sewing and embroidery combo machine, designed specially to be able to perform the functionality of a regular sewing machine as well as to perform embroidery.
Both models are shaped quite identically, though. Each has an LCD touchscreen for practical and intuitive control. Both models also feature jam-resistant top drop-in bobbin system.
Built-In Stitches
As mentioned before, Brother PE500 is an embroidery-only machine. As the effect, it only comes with embroidery stitches. It comes with 70 embroidery designs, 5 lettering fonts, and a total of 120 frame pattern combinations. On the other hand, Brother SE400 also comes with those stitches, but furtherly features 67 sewing stitches (including 10 one-step buttonholes). Both models support computer connectivity, allowing you to import more designs from the Internet into the machine.
Feature and Performance
Regarding the embroidery features, there is no difference between the two models. Both are equipped with a maximum embroidery area of 4” x 4”. For embroidery, both models have the maximum speed of 400 stitches/minute. There are layout and pattern rotating functions in both machines. Worth a note, Brother SE400’s maximum sewing speed is 710 stitches/minute.
Brother PE500 vs. SE400
Especially if you haven’t armed yourself with a truly reliable sewing machine yet, Brother SE400 makes the best way to go. Having both the sewing and embroidery functionality is awesome. However, if you already have a regular sewing machine that functions similar to or better than Brother SE400, then you can save some bucks with Brother PE500.