Which Machine????

catboater · June 24th, 2007, 12:02 PM

Hello everyone,
My wife and I will be purchasing a machine soon to start a home based business. We have a nitch in the market and are pretty sure it'll fly. It's now decision time on witch machine to buy.
I've noticed that in this forum nobody really expresses strong loyalty for any one machine so I hope I'll get some pointed advise.
We've done our homework and have narrowed our choices down to three different brands. They are Tajima, Happy and Brother. We'll choose one single head from these brands.
My wife actually flew to Charlotte to see all of them up and running at the Print Wear Show. At the show they all ran great naturally, but then they always do at shows

.
We like the Tajima Neo but it cost almost double what the Brother PR 600 II does. The Happy is interesting but they don't offer training or support here in the Northwest. They do offer online training but that seems iffy.
We'll be doing mostly caps and shirts that are 6 colors or less.
Right now we're leaning towards Brother because of price and service. The dealer has a package deal going that includes two each of all the standard hoops, two hat hoops, thread, stand and Pfaff 4D software for under $9,000. The dealer is 5 minutes from our house too.
The Tajima has basically the same deal but it cost more than $16,000.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Brother versus Tajima and Happy.

mino · June 25th, 2007, 04:12 AM

I've just bought a 2ndhand PR600 (I) and I love it. Can't tell you about the other machines, but the PR600 stitches out neatly, the back of stitching isn't rough feeling like some, and it's fairly easy to learn how to use. It is a bit noisy, but having said that, I can't hear it running from the next room or from upstairs - I have it in the living room, so TV needs to be turned up a notch!! The manual is easy to follow too. I love it. Good luck with your decision.

SkyLinePrints · June 25th, 2007, 09:24 AM

Interesting combination of machines. Two (PR600 and Happy Voyager?) are more comparable to each other than to the Tajima. The Tajima is several steps above these two. If you base your purchase on price, then leave the Tajima out. The Tajima and support at Tajima are where you need to be if you plan to grow your business past where you are today.

Redfoxx · August 13th, 2007, 06:29 PM

We have a Babylock EMP 6, same as Brother PR 600 for sale.

We went from a home type machine to the Babylock and it was very easy to learn. We did hats t's, jackets, and duffles. Had no problems. Our service guy is about 60 miles away and does routine maintinance for us for free. They are pretty much fool proof. (very hard to sew a hoop).

Our business has grown and we now have a Tajima TMFX 1501. I can verify the brother is a little louder than a Tajma. For us we needed a larger hoop sizes for applique work.

our Babylock machine is listed in the embroidery machine classified section.