Preference???

bbbagman

I am in the market for a smaller one head commercial embroidery machine. It seems Tajima, Melco, and Toyota are the most prominent brands with the features I think I need. I have read of some problems with the Amayas doings hats. I'm not sure of the problems nature or validity, but have read of those type of problems twice now. What I would like is some feed back on the Tajima Neo, the Toyota ESP 9000, and the Melco Amaya. Some of the informaton I'd like to know is which is more user freindly and that goes for the digitizing software for each too. Which has the most cost effective accessories. Which gives the most professional finish. What are commmon problems with each etc. Please let me know what you think and/or what you've heard as I have VERY little knowledge and seek to make a decision in the next 60 days. Thank you in advance for answering my questions as I am sure you've had to answer these same questions before a thousand times.

ronnie

i used to work for an embroidery company that had a tajima neo and a toyota 9000 for doing samples only. i was an embroidery operator on the production floor with multihead tajimas. i don't think they had multihead toyotas or if toyota even manufactures multiheads. i also did the embroidered samples so i have plenty of experience with the neo and 9000. in my experience both are equally great machines and the only problems i had with them were due to human error by digitizers - the ones in training. i think i heard that a toyota is basically a tajima under a different brand because their machine parts are interchangeable. i don't have any experience with an amaya so i can't comment on that machine.

bbbagman

Thanks Ronnie I appreciate your imput especially since you have experience using both. It would also be greatly appreciated if someone with Amaya experience and someone with administration ( cost effectiveness issues ) experience would respond. Thank you in advance for your imput.

Marc

Welcome to the forums bbbagman

I don't know if you've already read it, but there is a thread called Thinking of Starting an Embroidery Business that provides some feedback on Amaya (post #6 and #8). I hope other people with Amaya experience will also post in this thread.

As far as which machine is most user-friendly, that's very subjective as it all depends on the user. It's all about what's user-friendly to you and no one else. All the machines you've mentioned are capable of producing great results. The only way you can determine which machine is best for you is if you tried them all. This is what trade shows are for. I encourage you to visit one and demo all the machines yourself to get a "feel" for all the brands of machines out there.

Don't let price alone be the deciding factor, especially if you're new to the industry. After-sales service/support must be high on the list. Thus, a distributor close to you that provides great customer service will save you a lot of money and headache. When you're having technical difficulties that cannot be solved over the phone and therefore requires a qualified technician on-site, how long will you have to wait before your machine is fully operational again? Imagine paying travel and accommodation fees before the technician even starts working on your machine. If your machine is not stitching when it's supposed to, you're simply losing money.
You don't need a digitizing software for 'each' brand of machine like you don't need a one graphics software for each brand of printer. Hope that made sense to you. In the thread link I posted above; see post #2 with regards to digitizing and people just starting with embroidery.

bbbagman

Thank you for your reply Marc as well as the welcome. Boy, there were two markedly different reveiws of the Amaya in the same thread. I guess I will continue to fact find and go to a show. Anyone else with ANY thing they could add would be greatly appreciated.

jake

I've tried Amaya but I didn't like it too much. The only thing I liked about it was its ability to be able add additional heads. One thing I've noticed from other embroiderers about Amaya is that you either love it or hate it. Amayas are supposed to be the most hi-tech and innovative of all embroidery machines, but is that always a good thing? I have a lot of experience with many brands of machines including Tajima, Barudan and HAPPY. Learning how to operate between Tajima, Barudan and HAPPY literally takes a half a day. I bet it'll take a half a day for me to learn SWF or Toyota and other brands as well. It's because they pretty much operate the same, not with Amaya though, oh no, simple is not innovative enough .

Essentially there is a huge learning curve and too much fuss to operate an Amaya, for me anyways. All this thing about no manual top thread tensioning, rollers, presser foot height, higher maintenance etc. really didn't go too well with me. I would have to forget a lot of the tricks and stuff I've learned over the years for producing quality embroidery. On the thread Marc posted I pretty much agree with the poster name edmontondigitizingchick. If you don't have much experience operating other embroidery machines maybe you won't have much of a problem if you start off with an Amaya.

bbbagman

Thank you Jake for your reply. I am trying to make it to Nashville in August to get a hands on look at all the machines. The Toyota ESP 9000 machine is starting to gain my attention. It is a Tajima Neo with a little different electronics. The attractiveness is with the distributor out of Florida ( Pantograms ). I have heard good feedback on them.