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Old May 20th, 2009, 11:24 AM   #11 (permalink)
garagewear garagewear is offline
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Default Re: Whats your opinion

Ken,

I am curious how you come to your conclusion as to my business. As for my opinion, that is all these boards are anyway is opinion.

From your other posts I can see that you have purchased 2 Ricomas and had good experience. Maybe share more on that experience or for that matter why you chose the Ricoma. Of all of the Chinese machines the one I almost bought was Ricoma but I would have to go out west for training and there wasn't a techician in my area. I also noticed you were inquiring about other used machines. Why not just buy more Ricomas?

BTW. Yes I started in my garage and yes I bought a used Toyota. I am not sure what your definition of spending a lot of time is as I spent a few minutes making a post to answer a question. Just because I started in the garage and am still in "a garage" doesn't mean my business is small. Just keeping the overhead low and watching others go out of business because they think "business" means prime real estate, new equipment and state of the art facilities but forget about common sense, quality and service.

Nice to have you on the boards!

Bill
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Old May 20th, 2009, 01:31 PM   #12 (permalink)
nguyenmman nguyenmman is offline
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Default Re: Whats your opinion - Toyota

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Originally Posted by garagewear
The new (9000 / 9100) Toyotas are Tajimas with Toyota name. The 850 and 860 were Toyota designed. Some will say they are junk but I would argue they are just as good provided you learn how to service it. Finding technicians for an 850/860 is very difficult. Now that I have figured out the quirks in my 860 it sews as good as a brand new Tajima or Barudan.

Tajima, Barudan, Happy, Toyota and SWF all have a good following and good service reputations. Occasionally someone will have a bad experience and hate a brand but isn't that the case with anything?

I think all of the above are Japanese however I have heard the SWF was Korean so I don't know for sure. I looked at the Chinese machines and they just didn't seem to have the quality and the brands only last a few years then a new name gets slapped on them. Some have even resurected old machine names.

Bottom line is:
1. Find a machine that fits your needs. If you don't NEED 15 needles don't spend that money right now.
2. Find a machine that has a techincian in your area. Get a technician to do a presale inspection of a used machine for you!
3. Go see machines in action at someone elses shop.
4. If you don't buy new make sure you can find training for a specific machine.
5. If you are thinking small multi head (2-4)make sure it is dual function or networkable single heads so you can run multiple small jobs at once.
Thanks for your reply.
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Old May 20th, 2009, 02:23 PM   #13 (permalink)
fwtexscreener fwtexscreener is offline
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Default Re: Whats your opinion

I'm with Eric!!!!!1


Tajima! Tajima! Tajima! Tajima! Tajima! Tajima! Tajima! Tajima! Tajima!

There really is no other
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Old May 20th, 2009, 07:50 PM   #14 (permalink)
Lighthouse1299 Lighthouse1299 is offline
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Wink Re: Whats your opinion

You've heard from the big boys....now how about someone more like you. I started embroidery 10 years ago on a Viking Designer I (sewing and embroidery machine) at home in my spare time. I loved it but after 7 years, I needed a machine that had more of the commercial machine type features. I bought a Brother PR600II, sort of a light duty commercial style machine...costs about 1/2. Mine has 6 needles, many have more, but for the part timer....it's awesome! The machine stitches like a dream if you treat it right. The big boys are right....oil, oil, oil and dust. Regular maintenance is also a must.

I am now looking for a fully commercial machine and I'm going with Tajima, but do you really need that much machine right now? Maybe not. Only you can decide.
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Old May 21st, 2009, 12:21 PM   #15 (permalink)
Eric Eric is offline
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Default Re: Whats your opinion

Toyotas are basically tajima's ... What the main differences are I really don't know.
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Old May 21st, 2009, 03:36 PM   #16 (permalink)
Stitchitintl Stitchitintl is offline
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Default Re: Whats your opinion

I wasn't going to say anythin on this thread because it seems like it alway's turns into a "my machine is better then yours" deal. But after reading all of this and seeing some peoples opinion I am going to give me .02 and everyone can take it for what it is worth.

First of all I would like to say that We are the largest seller of used embroidery equipment in the U.S. and we have been in business for over 20 years. In that 20 years I have owned every brand of embroidery equpment out there. You name it and we have owned or worked on them. So this isn't the opinion of someone that has no backing.

Tajima, Barudan, and Brother are the only way to go. SWF has made a rise but still are not near the level as these other three brands.
Anything from China is absolute Junk! Some people may have some temporary success with these machines but it will end up catching up with them at some point. If not when they have the machine then it will be when the go to sell the machine and it has depreciated so bad that they can't sell it. I see this scenario every day and I do my best to keep people that I talk to from making the same mistake as others that I deal with.

With a Tajima, Barudan, or Brother you may pay a little more but you will get what you pay for in every aspect. Quality of the machine and the embroidery, life of machine, finding parts, servicing, resale value, and the list goes on and on.

Again, this not to bash anyone that owns a different type of equipment but if you ask anyone out there what is the best embroidery machine that you can buy they will be lying if the didn't say Tajima, Barudan, or Brother and in that order.

And to clear up something, Toyota is not the same thing as a Tajima and no affiliation with Tajima.

Kyle McMinn
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Old May 21st, 2009, 04:35 PM   #17 (permalink)
jmimageworks jmimageworks is offline
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Default Re: Whats your opinion

Stay away from Prodigi the company i work for now purchased them right before i was hired. too many phantom thread breaks, and dont get me started on setting the thread tension. I have worked with Tajima's, Toyotas, Melco's, and a few others and i have never had soo many little problems just to get the machine up and going. then there is the stich quality....sigh....I ran a sample on my Tajima and exact same sample on the Prodigi you can see clearly the embroidery is not as clean and sharp as the tajima. I may be a little bias on what i am recomending but i say go for the Tajimas.
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Old May 23rd, 2009, 08:05 PM   #18 (permalink)
jimrockford jimrockford is offline
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Default Re: Whats your opinion

swf is junk stay away from them. their service department is a joke. buyer beware
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Old May 24th, 2009, 05:49 PM   #19 (permalink)
Eric Eric is offline
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Default Re: Whats your opinion

Tell me about it ... I think bank of america has better customer service ... and THAT is scary.
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Old May 25th, 2009, 12:55 AM   #20 (permalink)
megrisoft megrisoft is offline
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Default Re: Whats your opinion

Most of my clients use Tajima Machines
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