Finally an opportunity arose to compare the Sailrite Ultrafeed with my cheaper, but apparently very similar Reliable Barracuda… I couldn’t let this opportunity pass, since i had recently be searching Youtube for this exact information.
No bias, honest comparison between the pros and cons of these machines.
BTW I’d like to make a correction… I mention a “not quite rite” machine available on Alibaba for $60 when it is only the base….my error…. the machine is actually $180.
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Timeline
0:00 Intro
00:37 The machines
01:33 General
07:54 Motors
09:40 Internals
10:40 My lesson with the Barracuda
16:50 Sewing
29:40 Customer service
31:50 Cost
34:36 Summary
ABOUT US:
Jupiter² was built in the Philippines by an Australian designer for Jamie. During his time away from work, Jamie lived on board and cruised South East Asia. One of his life dreams is to sail around the world. His plans came together at the end of 2018 when he met a Filipina lounge singer in China. Princess was yearning for a vacation since she had been working many years to support her family. Finally, her siblings got their own jobs and she decided to join Jamie on Jupiter² and go sailing. It was a wild decision for her because she had never sailed before. For the first time, they sail for two weeks around Phuket, Thailand. She began to see what Jamie love about the sea. They both resigned from their jobs in early 2019 and began cruising full time.
Hopefully some inspiration to “Quit Job and Go Sailing”.
THEME SONG CREDITS:
Song: Ikson – New Day (Vlog No Copyright Music)
Video Link: https://youtu.be/cVA-9JHwbFY
MUSIC:
All music from epidemicsound.com
CAMERA GEAR :
GoPro Hero 8
GoPro jaws flex clamp
GoPro 3-way camera stick & tripod mount
GoPro Dome
GoPro Polar Pro Filters
Iphone X- (dropped to sea Nov. 15)
Zoom H1N handy recorder
Boya BY-MM1 microphone
DJI Phantom 3 standard – (we crashed it recently 😂)
Software Editor : IMovie / Davinci Resolve 17
Laptop use for editing :
MacBook Pro 15inch Touch Bar 2017
MacBook Pro Retina 15inch 2015
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41 Comments
Thanks to everyone that joined us for the Premiere…. great to catch you all in real time….Cheers
What a great video after using an antique Singer commercial machine for years I bought a used Chinese what is called powerpro Plus which was the Clone to the sale right like you looked at and it's a zigzag but it has a 9 inch gate is compared to the 7-in I have been using it for a number of projects a full enclosure Bimini Dodger enclosure and has been a great machine I did add the monster wheel but I bought it as a Chinese knockoff off eBay so got to say I didn't make a wooden case for it because the plastic case it came in was kind of chintzy but for the money I love it
Onlaine pilij
Thank you for the review. Excellent presentation.
Hi
On the barracuda with the pinned shuttle driver you need to check the needle bar height
Sailrite bought the rights from another manufacturer and refined it, with those changes now in their production version. The manufacturer of all the other renamed brands use the old castings/parts with the inherent problems.
Sailrite receives every machine from the factory and checks it for operation and fine tunes it if necessary. The other machines are assembled, various names applied, boxed, and shipped. The old saying of it runs like a sewing machine applies to the Sailrite. The generic machine not sew much, pun intended.
I have full size machines for what I do. If I needed a portable, I would go with the Sailrite. There is nothing more frustrating than being in a time crunch and the machine goes wonky and you spend more time fixing than sewing. I am a firm believer in buy once, cry once. Adding the cost of the cheap machine on top of the quality replacement machine makes those second set of tears that much bigger.
B
Hello! When you load a bobbin on the barracuda, I think you have to loosen the little wheel in the big wheel. Then tje needle would not goes up and down while loading.
The Sailrite with the WorkerB Power Pack has significantly more power and max speed on the pedal can be manually adjusted with a dial so speed control is more refined.
Thanks for sharing with us.
Spring loaded return from reverse is a feature the pros use for efficiency. Maybe that’s a feature that should not have been added to a portable machine, given so many home project people, while wisely using a SailRite for its affordability, don’t do enough projects to become proficient enough to gain the dexterity that makes the “quick return from reverse” a value. Ending a stitch line at high throttle, one hits reverse, lets go, does a few more stitches and the end lock stitches are done so very fast. I have watched experts in boat upholstery using various machines, though never a SailRite. The experts are impressively proficient.
Two companies can take the same drawings and manufacture a machine to specification. Yet the results will be different according to the quality of the machining tools and the people operating the tools, even in our digital controls world.
Oh, good Lord. I almost bought a cheap Reliable Barracuda Sewing Machine today. It's a good thing I watched your YT. Thank you so much for the detailed review. Godspeed.
Yeah, it’s a bummer to pay the extra $300, but the videos, though free to the world on YouTube, are a great aid offered by SailRite.
You guys are great! Keep it up… like these reviews.
Great video, thanks. We're quickly breaking or needing so much fabric work on our boat it is almost ridiculous. We just tore our spinnaker, the stack pack needs modifications, as does the cockpit tent, and you always get more line bags. It's impossible to pay someone else for it all, so a sewing machine, even a higher priced Sailrite, weight pays for itself.
hi great video. can you do a real in-depth video about the differences ? like showing all the parts they upgraded telling what they are…
Great vid. Thanks! Which one do you own now?
Looks like a Singer Class 15 machine, but for the walking foot and zigzag.
Great video I watched it twice. I want to buy a super cheapo and then replace the driver part in that you recommended. The price on Alibaba seems to be $250 now? Do you happen to know of a place to find it for Less? I tried some other brand names. But it's a rabbit hole lots of these machines at prices are all over the place. I'd love to find one for $60 I might be on the fence at 250. I live in Florida I'm not sure if that affects the prices that the internet sends me.
Can it sew up clothes etc also?
What is that website about $60 Barracuda Sewing Machine?
The numbers on the tension control is just a label. You could make your own numbered label to cover up the default + – label. Or if you only need a few tension settings, just add your own hand drawn tick marks to the edge of the knob to highlight where you need to turn the knob to set a given tension amount. If you need more than 2 or 3 ticks, you could also use different colors to set them apart. Usually one mark on the machine itself is added as well to give a visual reference point to where the ticks on the knob should align with the body of the machine.
We use this same tick mark technique all the time at work to readjust the voltage levels on variable bench power supplies between a few common levels we need. Instead of making slow adjustments qhile watching the voltage meter change, we just turn the knob to exactly where it needs to go based on a tick mark, then verify or fine-tune the output with the meter as needed.
I bought a Morse machine (essentially the same) about 12 years ago for $350. I have had some problems, and one part of the internal mechanism broke. I was able to buy the replacement part from SailRite. I also had to add the monster wheel separately. There are some timing issues, but I am able to sew things. I have made 2 sails, repaired 2 other sails, and made several canvas projects. Everything appears to be compatible with the SailRite machine, but, as you mentioned, SailRite will not talk with you about a machine without their brand.
33:13 the $60.00 price is for the wooden box not the machine.
Hi there, on Jupiter! Thanks for this great review. I searched and searched, and never found any 60$ Sailrite's sister. I think it's the price of the box actually, wether it's a wooden or plastic one. The cheapest machine I found was around 190$, plus 50$ for the big wheel, wich makes 240$, and…250$ for the shipping!! So we're on an average price of 550$. The good point is the long arm machine (9") isn't much more expensive, just about 50 or 60$ extra; but the shipping cost jumps from 95$ for the 7"arm to… 250$ for the 9"arm machine. I encountered other brands than the ones you cited, but overall the price is always 550$ or so: half a sailrite.
It's been a week since I begun searching for an affordable machine, and I still don't know!!! Not sure I'll have the skills to make it whit a cheap machine if it comes to jam. Some advise you to oil your machine before the first use, some appear to be luckier than others. Heaven knows! 550$ is still an amount!
Hunch you find Monster Flywheel supplies significantly more torque than the Reliable Barracuda machine. That would explain lower wattage needed.
Looks like the China machine motor is not high quality. Normally higher voltage would require lower wattage to operate.
When spooling while the needle is running, you either need to lower the transport or put a piece of cloth under the foot to avoid dulling the teeth.
In case you have not already figured this out your take-up spring is in the wrong position on the Sailrite machine. It is caught on the hook where the thread goes @2:22. Just unhook it from the rest and it should fall down to the 7:00 position. That's why you are getting loose tension. The spring is set correct on the Barracuda. There is a video on how to install this spring on the Sailrite website under "tension assembly" part. I'm surprised it is pulling up the thread at all.
Reminds me of buying larger tools from Harbor Freight. All the basics are there but the cheap price is because nobody at the factory set them up. You have to spend some time setting them up yourself before they're usable. Same for cheap guitars. Looks like the "Reliable" needs someone to tune them a bit more before they ship them out.
Looks like they're both copies of the "Kenmore 158.220 Model 22"
Do you think the sail rite would be good for jeans , hoodies/ jackets , dresses , suits ,tops ? I’m a tailor and fashion designer a elderly guy in a Janome dealer said I should invest in a sail rite
I prefer the Consew Brand myself.
Whats the max thickness either machine ca. Stitch
buy the 60 dollar one and fix it with sailrite parts ,,, while they still supply without a serial number ,,, sorted , as long as you have a pair of hands .
Thank you. Nothing could be worse than needing to repair something but instead having to waste valuable time repairing a sewing machine! I’ll take the blue machine every time! 😉
Hello. New subscriber. I looked for that seller on Alibaba and the machine is now about $200.
I can put my head on a block. Are you previously from South Africa. 🙂
Will someone provide a link for a $60 + – machine from Alibaba as mentioned here?
I totally enjoyed your comparison.
I've owned and used the Sailrite Ultrafeed going on for 10 years. Of course, they're close to twice the price now. Sailrite videos are mind-blowingly useful, their employees unlike the owners are quite helpful.
At one time they encouraged customers to send in photos of projects they made using their Ultrafeed machine. So I submitted a Sioux, Native American Tipi I had designed and made for my grandchildren. They were obviously interested and asked for a copy of my CAD pattern file, which I freely sent. However, their interest totally evaporated when they found out I hadn't made it using their canvas. When they refused to help you with your Barracuda I wasn't the least bit surprised. Frankly, I own a couple Chinese-made sewing machines, one in particular looks like it was made by a drunk blacksmith, yet it sews as well as my Sailrite and it only set me back $150. As Paul Liuzzo commented, "a Ferrari and a Ford will both get you where you are going."
Not sure about sewing machines, but my friend bought two chinese made 5hp outboards from aliexpress(I think). Before he ran them, I took one, disassembled it, cleaned it up(deburring, cyl hone, valve lap. smoothed the gears, Carb etc) Put it back together and gave it back. He mounted them both on his 16ft boat and ran them equally. with the same oil and gas. the one straight out of the box lasted 4 years of above average use, the one I cleaned is still running strong.
In my opinion much of the chinese stuff has the potential to be reasonable. but assembly and attention to detail of the products is grossly lacking. And yes the Metallurgy and composite quality is also lacking. It was very easy to file the piston rings and bearing races. Most of the plastic was not glass fiber(or ever fiber) reinforced.
I think if you took apart the Barracuda, cleaned the parts (maybe put some graphite or molybdenum disulfide on the moving parts it would run a lot smoother.
Not sure about the motors but they both should pull about the same amount of amps, therefore the power output should be about the same.