Full Version: Machine ranking
From: Michael [#4]
19 Dec 2004
To: shari (APPLIK) [#2] 19 Dec 2004
From: Jim (RETAIL74) [#5]
19 Dec 2004
To: ALL
First, I have to let you know that I work for Tajima USA, the nationwide distributor for Tajima embroidery machines and Pulse embroidery software. So you can guess which way I’m leaning here.
I travel from shop to shop, calling on uniform companies, clothing manufacturers, embroidery shops, sporting goods stores, and screen printers. The majority, 95% or higher, use Tajima or Barudan. I stress that this is not an exaggeration. In fact, I’ve never even seen most of the machines on your list in an actual store. I have seen them at trade shows, but most of the companies that you listed are very new.
Aemco, Prodigi, Vital Link, and SWF are all selling machines that use old Tajima and Barudan technology. The machines are made in China and South Korea, where the governments look the other way at patent laws. Vital Link trades under the Meistergram name. When Meistergram went out of business, their assets and technology were purchased by Barudan.
Some of these companies will tell you that their machines are as good as Tajima’s or Barudan’s. Most of them don’t carry adequate replacement parts. Even worse, I have been told by some people that they send their customer’s our way when they need a part because the parts are supposed to be the same. It’s like saying a Lexus and a Kia are the same because they both have Goodyear tires.
Baby lock is more of a home sewing machine. It has a very small embroidery field and they only have one unit that can do hats. The unit that can do hats has six needles. If you are getting started, don’t purchase a machine with less than 12 needles. You will spend too much time changing threads. This is a good machine for a uniform shop that does a lot of one-color names.
ZSK and Toyota have more of a track record. Toyota has a very good machine…It’s made by Tajima! I have one customer who is very happy with ZSK. If I were getting started, on strength on equipment, I would go with one of these, Tajima, or Barudan.
Here where this becomes an advertisement. Whenever I go into a shop that has a Tajima and another brand of equipment the customer is always using the Tajima. They will tell me that it sews better. In my travels, I see many Tajimas, Toyotas, and Barudans that are 10 to 12 years old. Tajimas (and Barudans) are the cheapest to operate overall because they last twice as long as the other units. There is a very big market for used Tajima equipment because it is made so well.
I hope that this helps,
Jim
From: Michael [#6]
19 Dec 2004
To: Jim (RETAIL74) [#5] 19 Dec 2004
Sorry, Jim, no help at all. As stated in the original post I'm looking for people to rate on a 0-10 numerical scale the listed machines based on their experience and/or their opinions. Amplifying information is ok, but I'm interested, right now, in how the people perceive the equipment.
I took the liberty of rating each based on what I've been able to glean from a couple of sources but I have no practical experience. I do, however, have an appointment to see a demo of a Tajima machine.
If I rated the machines based on how the different companies/dealers treat inquiries I'd have to rate Tajima at the top and Barudan at the bottom with Baby Lock, Toyota, and Prodigi. Three requests to dealers of each of those three have gone unanswered. Go figure.
From: sunny (SUNSHINE5555) [#7]
19 Dec 2004
To: Michael [#6] 19 Dec 2004