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With the touch of a button, quickly and easily fill bobbins without having to un-thread and re-thread your sewing machine. The compact size means it fits anywhere, making it great for toting to class! The SideWinder comes with a UL-approved AC power cord/adapter (included) or runs on two AA batteries (not included). Accommodates all bobbins that have a standard round center hole.
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It does what I want it to do
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I have a Singer Quantum futura, and I was tired of tying up my machine, and my foot winding bobbins, so I'm happy to have a product where I just hit the button and it goes. When I used the spindle on the Winder like you're supposed to, it jerked around a lot with my tall spools. So instead, I used the shipping box and a wooden skewer to fashion a toilet paper style holder for my tall spools of thread. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any way to adjust the full bobbin setting, but I found I could hold the ON button down to continue filling after the auto shutoff.
Rating: 
(4
out of 5) @ 2008-12-04
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A decent product with some issues
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I bought this device because when I use the bobbin winder on my Singer Quantum Futura CE-100 in embroidery mode, sometimes the software driver gets "confused" about whether the bobbin winder is still being used or not. Having a separate bobbin winder has let me avoid this problem entirely, thus saving quite a bit of time and frustration. It would probably also be useful if the bobbin winder on one's machine was broken, thus letting one avoid a repair bill for at least a little while.
Issues I've observed:
- The model I have won't hold the larger spools of thread which I use for quilting and embroidery. However, I've gotten around this problem by holding my spools on a knitting needle while using the winder. If one has a thread stand, that could probably be pressed into service instead.
- An "off" button would be very nice! Of course, the machine turns off automatically when bobbins fill with a certain amount of thread. One can also toggle the little thread-sensing lever and turn the winder off. However, I've run into a couple of situations where I didn't have enough hands - I was holding a spool of thread on a knitting needle, the bobbin wasn't winding quite right, and turning the winder off required some fumbling around.
- The product has a cheap feel about it, and the motor doesn't seem particularly powerful. Only time will tell how durable these winders are. However, it probably isn't fair to compare the quality of an inexpensive portable tool like this with a sewing machine costing hundreds or thousands of dollars. It has already saved me half an hour of software hassles with my embroidery machine this weekend; if it does that a few more times, it will have paid for itself!
- The product documentation states that the winder won't work with Singer Futura bobbins. Please note that Singer Futura bobbins are NOT the same as the bobbins used for the Quantum Futura sewing/embroidery machines, which are a 15J. My 15J bobbins fit on the winder just fine.
Bottom line: I'd like to give this winder a four or five star rating, but it isn't quite there yet. That isn't intended to be a knock on the product: it's good and useful; it's just in its first generation of production. I won't be surprised if subsequent generations address many of the issues which I and others have observed.
Rating: 
(3
out of 5) @ 2008-07-21
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They need to work out the bugs
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It appears from the reviews that you either love this little gizmo, or you hate it. I'm afraid I come down on the latter side of the issue.
It should be such a useful little item, and I wish I could recommend it, but I honestly can't. I don't have much patience, but I am known for my creativity, and I exhausted both trying to get this product to work as advertised.
Thinking that my problem was the thread I was using and that the elasticity of nylon might be causing issues with the tension, I tried cotton thread with little more success. At least the nylon thread was easy enough to cut off the bobbin; cotton thread was a pain. I was going to try silk, but I decided even I wasn't that masochistic.
The bobbin tends to wind unevenly because the tension mechanism grabs the thread and becomes jammed. This causes the wildly winding bobbin to bunch the thread into the already assembled mass. Even when the mechanism is winding properly, the jumping of the bobbin creates major loops of thread that then get embedded into the oncoming material. Any thought of putting this mess into a machine would be shear insanity.
It seems highly likely that it is the speed of the winder that causes the problems I've seen. Certainly the ability to control the speed with the switch would have helped with all of the problems I've addressed. Unfortunately it doesn't even turn the machine off, only on, and one has to pop the lever designed to stop the machine when the bobbin is full in order to stop a miss-winding thread from doing any more damage.
This product is such a good idea. As one of the other reviewers notes, it really is a bother to have to unwind and rewind you machine to do your bobbins, and there really isn't any reason the idea shouldn't work. I note that there is a "new" model, but after dealing with this one and spending what I did to purchase it, I find myself unwilling to throw good money after bad should the "new" model work no better than the "old" one did.
A far better plan, certainly a cheaper and less frustrating one and the one I intend to employ, is to wind enough bobbins at the start of my project so that I don't have to use either my machine or a bobbin winder mid-project. Bobbins aren't that expensive, and I could have bought quite a few for what I paid for this device!
A little before its time, perhaps. Definitely needs to work out the bugs.
Rating: 
(1
out of 5) @ 2008-05-28
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Great Product
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Bought this for my sister and she says it is great. makes winding her bobbins faster and easier
Rating: 
(5
out of 5) @ 2008-04-08
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What a waste of money!!!
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I'm glad I got 40% off this little piece of junk! Even at $20, it's not worth it. Very junky, doesn't work as stated. You're better off not buying this!
Rating:
(1
out of 5) @ 2008-03-26
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