Tajima or SWF to start a Business

1)which manufacturer has the closest support and maintenance staff to you? If you are new to the industry this should be as important to you as which machine to purchase.

2) Consider what type of clients you will have... if you can get by with only one head or if two heads would be more beneficial to you... I doubt a 2head machine would be more beneficial to a startup than 2 single heads. If you can keep two machines running then it seems an easy choice to go for the 2 (provided support is readily available) your ROI is just better with 2 machines if you can keep them producing.... if you only think you can keep one machine running full time for quite a while, then just get the one and save the additional money for marketing or supplies, etc.

3) While I agree the Tajima has a better brand, for the money I could not justify it for my own business.... But that is a personal decision based on my local market and my 19 years of experience with commercial embroidery. Maybe also consider one of them to be the SWF E-U1501 , a bridge model which offers a bit different sewing field and options... but that depends on what you intend to sew.

When I started my final choice was between Tajima and SWF. I went with Tajima because I felt that the machine was built like a tank, ran very smoothly and the sew-outs looked better. As previously mentioned, I would definitely consider availability of machine and software training and machine tech support. Tajima/Hirsch phone tech support has been good and my machine has only needed one minor repair in 5 1/2 years. Also consider machine longevity. Tajimas hold their value. No matter how big you get you can always use a single head for sew-outs. I did attend training at SWF in NJ and that was great and I've heard good things about SWF from happy customers. Both Tajima and SWF have online users groups where you might find addition information.

yeah theres a yahoo tajima user group let me find it for you give me a day on that. i have it somewhere. TAjima all the way. ive owned tajimas barudans swf melcos and one word tajima is the best. people can beg to differ let them. my first tajima was used i bought it in 94 it was a 92 and ive had one service call on it. my other ones are about 8 years old ive only had one problem with the machine i loaded the design memory too much and thought the machine was broken. deleted some designs machine worked again. lol. ive hit the frame banged up the pressor foot took a screw driver banged it back in place works like a charm. these machines are almost unbreakable.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TajimaUsers/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TajimaPlus/ (Tajima machine/Pulse software)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SWFOwners/

haha those links ... i was going to poist those.

Depending on your budget and closest technician. I would go with the Tajima they are solid and a real work horse.