Opinions on the Amaya XT

[Shanarchy]

Anyone have any experience with Amaya's (2005-2007 era)?

I am seeing a couple of affordable ones out there. I like the idea of getting a single head now, and adding another used one next year if embroidery becomes a mover for us. However, I never really hear anyone talk about them. Just Tajima, Barudan, and SWF.

Speaking of Tajima, anyone have any experience with a Tajima Neo (2003 era)? This is also a single head. Can these be networked (?) like the Amaya's? Not sure if that's what it's actually called, but add a second and it will act like a 2 head, etc.

Thanks!

[GraphicDisorder]

Look at it this way, not really many factories full of Amaya's.  If your married to buying a single head id buy the flavor that you intend to grow with.  One thing we dislike is having 2 brands of machines in our shop, 2 different control panels to train, 2 different hooping systems, etc. I would stick with Barudan or Tajima if your intending to get serious about embroidery in the future.  SWF is decent to start with as well, but certainly something less compared to the other 2. 

[JJPrint]

We are doing overflow work for a local embroidery shop that has Happy brand machines.  They had a Tajima Neo that they could never get to run properly and finally sold it.  Owner said he bought it to save a few bucks.  We are running Barudan ourselves, very good machine.

[Denis Kolar]

I would stick with Tajima, Barudan or SWF. Also, because you are looking into a single head, I would look into Toyota 9000 or 9100. Those are discontinued, but they are the same as Tajima Neo. Tajima techs should be able to fix them.

I have Tajima Neo2 (2009) and Toyota ESP9000 (2006), both have been workhorses with minimal issues (my fault on Tajima).
I have bought used Toyota 2 years ago and I could not be happier with it. Got lucky and bought a lightly used one (Almost like a brand new)

As far as the Amaya. I have heard that they had issues with tensions and their automatic tensioning system. Never worked with one.

2003 Tajima can not be networked. I think those will have floppy, not the USB.

[Gilligan]

I've never heard anything bad about them.  I know a company in town that has 2 and they love them.  My tech is always pushing them.

I think what Brandt says is true... but if you aren't looking to be a 100+ head shop then you can't really compare what works for them.  If you are looking to stay under say 10 heads for the foreseeable future then it might be worth looking at.

No offense to Brandt's point, but in that same vane you should also be saying "don't buy a single head, do you see any large shops running single heads?  You should at least buy a 8 or 12 head, most big shops run 12-20 heads."

Their business model just doesn't apply to the little guy is the way I look at it.

[GraphicDisorder]

Has a lot to do with what you are going to try to sell.  If you are trying to sell bulk runs, Single heads make zero sense.  If you are going ot do 1 off items then a gang of single heads will make a lot of sense.  There are markets for both of course. 

Ive had 1, 2, 4's and now 6's, and what I can certainly promise you is that 1 single head machine you will struggle to pay for the person to run it and the cost of the machine/software/etc and have much of anything left for yourself as "profit" unless you are the owner operator of that machine (no employee to pay to run it).  We found that out quick.  If you have a hat that takes 15 minutes to run, and your needing to do say 100 of them.  Start doing that math on a single head.....  Then consider it on a 4 or 6 head. 

I think there is a HUGE misconception about sew times for people that are just getting into the game.  Some believe they are going to put out a ton of work per day on a single head and while there might be some prefect exceptions to that with low stitch count files the truth of it is at least in our shop is most files have a 10-20min run time for hats/small flat work.  Backs could be on a machine for hours.  So consider all that when you are staring at a 100pc order and 1 single head. 

I think when I bought our single head it was like 12k, 2 head was only 18k.  I was stupid and let the numbers scare me at the time. 

[mk162]

i do like how the Amayas can network...if you can load the same design across all of them or a section of them with a mouse click, then it almost becomes faster than a 6 head because the others sew when one goes down...

I see the advantage.  I think you are still better off with a 4 or 6 head paired with a single head machine.

[Gilligan]

i do like how the Amayas can network...if you can load the same design across all of them or a section of them with a mouse click, then it almost becomes faster than a 6 head because the others sew when one goes down...

I see the advantage.  I think you are still better off with a 4 or 6 head paired with a single head machine.

Exactly.

For us, we don't have the space or really the volume to justify.  We also run a good bit of smaller run stuff.

I can fit in more single heads than I can multiheads.

Plus the argument about 6 single heads will run faster than a single 6 head.  Yes it cost more, but you can grow into it as you need as well.

BTW, some people need to tell these guys they are doing it wrong.

[GraphicDisorder]

i do like how the Amayas can network...if you can load the same design across all of them or a section of them with a mouse click, then it almost becomes faster than a 6 head because the others sew when one goes down...

I see the advantage.  I think you are still better off with a 4 or 6 head paired with a single head machine.

Exactly.

For us, we don't have the space or really the volume to justify.  We also run a good bit of smaller run stuff.

I can fit in more single heads than I can multiheads.

Plus the argument about 6 single heads will run faster than a single 6 head.  Yes it cost more, but you can grow into it as you need as well.

BTW, some people need to tell these guys they are doing it wrong.

Like I previously said, not MANY factories full of them, didn't say their weren't any or that they were doing it wrong.  I said you don't see many, that statement is true. I also bet that factory is making a ton of 1 item orders.  Which would make sense in that respect doing single heads, again it all comes down to what you want to sell/produce. We can make higher margins doing one off stuff, or we can make lower margin but huge orders doing bulk.  My shop happens to do both, our SWF's make our 1 off stuff and our Barudans run our bulk items. We gave away our single head as it was just in the way in our scenario. So first before you start thinking about machines it may be smarter to consider what type of work you'd rather do and what type of money you can expect to make doing that, then match that with the machines that make the most sense.   

[inkman996]

Funny thing is we are going backwards to what everyone is talking about. We started big with 12 heads now we bought a single head machine a while back and the damn thing is invaluable. We no longer tie up the big machines with small runs or sampling. My point is you really can't go wrong buying a single head now or in the future it should be a useful machine for you.

Also every time I talk with our Barudan rep he strongly pushes the purchase of multiple single heads that can be daisy chained to either run one big run or multiple jobs at a time. He says a lot of big shops are going that format for those reasons.

[GraphicDisorder]

Our Baurdan rep just told me on our install they can't build 4 heads fast enough and 6 heads are not far behind them.  Guess its all in who you talk to. 

[mk162]

that factory is probably something like 31 bags where they do a chit-ton of personalization.  Notice there is 1 table for 2 machines..not one table per 12 or 15 machines.

It's a smart thing, no doubt, but I would rather run a 6 plus a 1 or 2 and go with it.

[GraphicDisorder]

that factory is probably something like 31 bags where they do a chit-ton of personalization.  Notice there is 1 table for 2 machines..not one table per 12 or 15 machines.

It's a smart thing, no doubt, but I would rather run a 6 plus a 1 or 2 and go with it.

Completely different business model than most here, so id agree with you for the context of MOST shops here.  They want to do some volume, not 1 off stuff. 

[Gilligan]

That was random google image search.  I'm sure they aren't alone.

[GraphicDisorder]

that factory is probably something like 31 bags where they do a chit-ton of personalization.  Notice there is 1 table for 2 machines..not one table per 12 or 15 machines.

It's a smart thing, no doubt, but I would rather run a 6 plus a 1 or 2 and go with it.

I agree and your going to love your new Barudan.  For us we love having a mix of machines with various head counts.  In the next year or 2 we intend to boot our renter and create a purpose built embroidery room, likely build it to fit 40-60 heads.  Our purchases at that point will probably be a couple 8 heads, and maybe something real big like a 12 or 15 head or 2.  We will also begin selling and replacing our SWFs with Barudans. 

That was random google image search.  I'm sure they aren't alone.

I am sure they aren't alone and ive yet to suggest otherwise, but that doesn't change or make my statement false. It seems like you are trying to start an argument with words I didn't use. Again the word used was many.... and that is in context comparison to factories full of Barudan, Tajima, SWF, Happy and so on.  I bet if you consider factories say at least 50+ heads, I would bet not even 1% of those shops are all Amayas and where I come from that's not many. I wouldn't be shocked if you drop the head count even a lot lower that statement remains true.

BTW did you count the Amyas XT's in that image, count only what you can fully be sure is Amaya. Its not near as impressive once you count it, it's a big ole room and that's impressive but count the machines. More food for thought is did you count the ones running?