Whats your opinion

Tajima! Tajima! Tajima!

Don't even consider anything else. If you are wanting a nice single head, go Tajima, they are outstanding, I believe they are doing a special on machines now. Barudan is nice, but I don't like their singles, I only have their multi-heads. All my singles are tajimas (i have 6 singles)

Everything else: Swf, Melco, Brother, Happy, Prodigi is just plain garbage.

I'll take that challenge ... any day.

the only thing that can give tajima a run for its money would be barudan. I have over 400 heads, and 2 laser bridges in my shop. I have owned almost every emboridery machine there is at one time or another.

Perhaps I was a little harsh, some brands are less garbage than others, nothing will outrun a tajima or barudan, in quality or longevity. I will give respect to ZSK, they are good machines but are on the over engineered side, and a fortune to fix in the even that something goes wrong, ther is NO STANDARD timing on a ZSK, so every machine has diferent timing, talk about rough to work on if you loose the gauge.

Perhaps the only machine that might not deserve my garbage list is brother. I have seen some good things come from them, and my 4 head back in the day was good to me for what it was worth, amd the M bobbins are nice.

SWF stays at the top of the garbage heap, I had to take them to court about 5 years ago over my machine, I won.

As for the rest of them, put 40,000 hours (about 10 years assuming 2 shifts a day, accounting for holidays and idle time) and see if any of the lesser brands are still standing. I have a barudan from 1989 in my shop. still running.

Eric, I fix machines, and not all the machines you listed are garbage. Every machine needs maintenance, and what i have see in big shops is the production is what only counts and they don't take the time to air blow ,oil , grease the machines and that's when the machines start performing bad. My favorites are Tajimas but I think they are expensive. just stay away from any machine made in China, SWF will give you the best machine at an affordable price and will last as long as a Tajima. Maintenance is the key for the life of any machine, don't get lazy take some time everyday and make those machines feel like they are in a Spa .

I totally agree with you ... had my SWF actually worked, maybe it would have been a different story, they sent a tech out to me 3 times, as well as gave me the royal run around on the phone for WEEKS saying, It must be me, and my shop. Needless to say, SWF got their machine back, and my attorney, got me my money back.

I'm just saying Tajimas & Barudan and solid machines, Stay away from China, and everything else is is just OK.

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

I'm with Eric!!!!!1

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

There really is no other

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.

Toyotas are basically tajima's ... What the main differences are I really don't know.

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

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.

Tell me about it ... I think bank of america has better customer service ... and THAT is scary.

Most of my clients use Tajima Machines

ok i wasnt going to step in either, but you know what! why not.
Dont bash eric's opinion because the reality of it is. Its 100% true. The question the person was asking in the thread was whats the best machine. Not what machine might work.
when eric says melco zsk ricoma brother are garbage. Ill explain what he means.
I have never seen a tajima that was a lemon. Never. ive owned the melcos the swf's zsk. not a brother so ill keep my mouth shut with that one. But those machines are garbage next to a tajima or barudan, im actually getting tired of these threads where people try to bash a tajima or barudan machine. Everyone knows theyre the best. Everyone. there is not one experienced person in this business who cant tell you that. and ive seen the odd person who has owned a machine that is not barudan or tajima and never had a problem, but more cases actually 90% of cases ive seen people who have these machines including myself and have had nothing but problems with them. So Eric meant if you want a good machine no matter if you found it in a dumpster, go with a tajima or barudan. Theyre better machines cut and dry that is it.
the dumpster thing was a bit much but you get the point.

Doesn't matter if you have one head or 100000 heads everyone who owns these two brands will tell you the same thing, they are amazing

I recommend the Brother PR600II or PR620. My is great, trouble free, great for home use or a home business.

THANK YOU DAN!

I was wondering when you would step in, lol

I trust you got my note? I've got a little spring rush going on, as soon as it clears I have a software question to ask you.

So what do the Barudan and Tajima entry level machines run price wise?

My last single head tajima cost me $10,495 brand new. A barudan is anywhere from the $10k to $11k neighborhood to upwards of $15,000 depending on the machine weather you want bridge or compact and how many needles.

If you are talking singles, go with tajima, its a good product, a little cheaper, and in my opinion easier to use out of the box if you have never worked with industrial machines before.