Anatol Titan thoughts

[Prosperi-Tees]

I bet 99% of people will probably be perfectly happy and fine with Anatol. The issue is the 1% are probably having more issues with their equipment than they should so I think some of the Anatol bashing is uncalled for in a sense. And like others have said get the press that you are most comfortable and that fits your requirements and you will be fine. As long as you are not that 1% 

[TCT]

TCT you mentioned being a young buck, exactly how young are you? I'm probably the youngest guy here...

Oh I don't imagine I am the youngest one here, I was just saying I haven't been around long enough to say when the Javelins started coming out. I am 30 though, birthday is in February, now I will expect a present from you

[DCSP John]

Figured I would chime in on this topic -

We have a 6 color Horizon servo/electric with two quartz flashes on one side of our shop,
and a 8 color Sportsman servo with two quartz flashes  on the other side...

The Anatol has been here longer, and has run flawlessly, aside from a few distracting issues.
It is a really nice, quality machine, and has produced day after day. Can't speak highly enough about the press.

However, our first Anatol rep was great, but he left. Second Anatol rep was great, but he left as well.
We felt a little bit distanced from Anatol. This was a little bit disconcerting, especially when the entire means
of supporting the business was wrapped up in one machine. You hope that your machine doesn't take a crap,
but if it does, you had better have a means to get back on line, and quickly.


When it came to purchasing a second machine - Scott (Martin Supply) was here to walk us thru
options for M&R. Joe Mazur (M&R) was here to walk us thru options. He's been with M&R for I think decades.
We saw the Sporty in Atlantic City,and again, we had a whole group walk is thru options. We knew the quality
of the machinery was first rate, and this was matched by superior service and support.


Both companies make  great machines. When it came to bringing in another machine and dryer - we had
to look long term. Support, parts, service - the things that really matter when it comes to using this type
of equipment.. This was the biggest  single  factor for us.


John

[NiteOwlGraphics]

Never posted or responded here before, usually come here for a quick answer and that's about it.  Reading some of your "claims" and ridiculous comments that some of you are trying to pass off as "facts" I felt obligated to at least chime in...  First and foremost if any of you have been screenprinting for more than 6 months and haven't figured out that a press is only as good, reliable, effecient etc etc etc as the person operating it than you migh as well stop reading this right now.  Does anyone really believe that an M&R produces a better print than an Anatol press??  I have two Anatol automatic presses and two M&R dryers so I've given both companies a lot of my money.  While I can't praise M&R the way most of you do, the bashing of Anatol seems almost as if you're being coached, or paid, or worst of all like you're trying to get the attention of a CEO (Rich) as if he's going to call you and offer you a seat on his board, it's extremely transparent and quite pathetic. 

I would be willing to wager quite a bit that there isn't a press out there that could keep up with the Titan or Horizon I have in terms of speed.  And I read someone post that they were "lied to by Anatol before delivery" or something like that, that's the one post that I know is a flat out 100% lie unless the buyer was unclear about the "details" of the purchase, which I wouldn't doubt.  I can get ahold of someone at Anatol in every department they have 24/7, I was even given direct cell phones numbers which is pretty unheard of. 

In a little over 9 months of owning the Titan I put between 300-325,000 prints on it and I can say without any hesitation that the only problems I had were: proximity adjustment handles that broke because of an error by the operator, and one wire going from the motherboard to head #4 which I wrote off to standard wear & tear.  The proximity handles were sent to me every time I asked, I never saw a single invoice, and a bypass wire was sent Next Day Air to me again at no charge. 

Could I get the same result out of an M&R, Workhorse, even a Brown press?  Probably, but not because they're superior products but because I know what I'm doing and I take care of my equipment.  Name a press that can print faster than the Titan, I have had it up to ~1,150 prints per hour?  You can't do it because there isn't one available.  Name a press that has a more compact footprint than the Titan, it's not much bigger than my 6/4 manual Riley Hopkins?  Once again, impossible.  Give me the brand that has an equal model to the Titan that's less expensice?  ((((crickets)))) There isn't one.

If you're looking to print more than 2 or 3 colors on a dark shirt than of course you'll have issues, that's not really what it's made to do.  The same people who complain that their Anatol press has issues and is always breaking down I bet are the same people who ignore their car, house, kids, pets, credit cards and employees and constantly wonder aloud why they're always letting them down.  This equipment is only as good as the user.  There's no legitimate reason anyone could give for using an M&R or any other press for that matter over Anatol when you're talking about the ACTUAL PRESS.  If you can't get the print you want from the Titan than you're just not that talented of a screenprinter, sorry to break it to you like that...   All the phots attached were printed on my Titan, whether you think they're up to your standards or not is up to you.  If you think your clients are more picky than mine, I can promise you they're not.

But by all means, keep complaining and blaming issues on everyone else but you (the user), and spending twice as much on a press that will get you the same result I get from Anatol, seriously, please keep it up.  That's the attitude that has brought me a lot of work and maybe some of it used to be yours, who knows? 

Yours,

Joseph J. DiDonato
Owner
Midwest Graphics &
8845 Graphic Design
1200 W. 35th
Chicago, IL 60609
Cell: (734) 320-1100
email: Didonato8845@gmail.com

[inkman996]

Never posted or responded here before, usually come here for a quick answer and that's about it.  Reading some of your "claims" and ridiculous comments that some of you are trying to pass off as "facts" I felt obligated to at least chime in...  First and foremost if any of you have been screenprinting for more than 6 months and haven't figured out that a press is only as good, reliable, effecient etc etc etc as the person operating it than you migh as well stop reading this right now.  Does anyone really believe that an M&R produces a better print than an Anatol press??  I have two Anatol automatic presses and two M&R dryers so I've given both companies a lot of my money.  While I can't praise M&R the way most of you do, the bashing of Anatol seems almost as if you're being coached, or paid, or worst of all like you're trying to get the attention of a CEO (Rich) as if he's going to call you and offer you a seat on his board, it's extremely transparent and quite pathetic. 

I would be willing to wager quite a bit that there isn't a press out there that could keep up with the Titan or Horizon I have in terms of speed.  And I read someone post that they were "lied to by Anatol before delivery" or something like that, that's the one post that I know is a flat out 100% lie unless the buyer was unclear about the "details" of the purchase, which I wouldn't doubt.  I can get ahold of someone at Anatol in every department they have 24/7, I was even given direct cell phones numbers which is pretty unheard of. 

In a little over 9 months of owning the Titan I put between 300-325,000 prints on it and I can say without any hesitation that the only problems I had were: proximity adjustment handles that broke because of an error by the operator, and one wire going from the motherboard to head #4 which I wrote off to standard wear & tear.  The proximity handles were sent to me every time I asked, I never saw a single invoice, and a bypass wire was sent Next Day Air to me again at no charge. 

Could I get the same result out of an M&R, Workhorse, even a Brown press?  Probably, but not because they're superior products but because I know what I'm doing and I take care of my equipment.  Name a press that can print faster than the Titan, I have had it up to ~1,150 prints per hour?  You can't do it because there isn't one available.  Name a press that has a more compact footprint than the Titan, it's not much bigger than my 6/4 manual Riley Hopkins?  Once again, impossible.  Give me the brand that has an equal model to the Titan that's less expensice?  ((((crickets)))) There isn't one.

If you're looking to print more than 2 or 3 colors on a dark shirt than of course you'll have issues, that's not really what it's made to do.  The same people who complain that their Anatol press has issues and is always breaking down I bet are the same people who ignore their car, house, kids, pets, credit cards and employees and constantly wonder aloud why they're always letting them down.  This equipment is only as good as the user.  There's no legitimate reason anyone could give for using an M&R or any other press for that matter over Anatol when you're talking about the ACTUAL PRESS.  If you can't get the print you want from the Titan than you're just not that talented of a screenprinter, sorry to break it to you like that...   All the phots attached were printed on my Titan, whether you think they're up to your standards or not is up to you.  If you think your clients are more picky than mine, I can promise you they're not.

But by all means, keep complaining and blaming issues on everyone else but you (the user), and spending twice as much on a press that will get you the same result I get from Anatol, seriously, please keep it up.  That's the attitude that has brought me a lot of work and maybe some of it used to be yours, who knows? 

Yours,

Joseph J. DiDonato
Owner
Midwest Graphics &
8845 Graphic Design
1200 W. 35th
Chicago, IL 60609
Cell: (734) 320-1100
email: Didonato8845@gmail.com

1st My press can print faster than your 1150, cant mention the name here but most people here know what it is.

2nd how in the hell can you state that a press is only as good as its operator? Are you insinuating that if a crappy press is sent to someone it is their responsibility to keep it running not the OEM? Silly.

3rd how can you come here and call people liars? Are you involved in their situations with their dealings with Anatol? Do you work for Anatol? No, so how do you know what anyone here has dealt with?

4th No one is really trashing the machines everyone is basically discussing Anatols long history of support issues. Just because you had success does not mean everyone else has.

It is pretty obvious M&R has done something just about no other manu has done and that is back up their product at all costs. Why that irks you I don't know but man understand people tend to buy things for piece of mind instead of risking major support issues down the road.

[NiteOwlGraphics]

"No one's trashing machines" was that supposed to be a joke?  This is more biased than the M&R testimonial page on their site....

"It is pretty obvious M&R has done something just about no other manu has done and that is back up their product at all costs"??  I needed a single cable for my dryer a month ago, one lonely cable that raises/lowers the heaters, I JUST got it this week after they lost my work order twice and sent out a technician in person, twice as well.  Now that's the only time I've ever had to deal with them but where would you say that rates on the Customer Service Scale between 1-10, "1" being, well, pretty much my noted experience above and "10" being technician brought the proper tools and equipment to replace a cable the first time....

[prozyan]

You seem to have a lot of pent up anger.  Maybe from working with two Anatol machines?   

[inkman996]

"No one's trashing machines" was that supposed to be a joke?  This is more biased than the M&R testimonial page on their site....

"It is pretty obvious M&R has done something just about no other manu has done and that is back up their product at all costs"??  I needed a single cable for my dryer a month ago, one lonely cable that raises/lowers the heaters, I JUST got it this week after they lost my work order twice and sent out a technician in person, twice as well.  Now that's the only time I've ever had to deal with them but where would you say that rates on the Customer Service Scale between 1-10, "1" being, well, pretty much my noted experience above and "10" being technician brought the proper tools and equipment to replace a cable the first time....

Quote me where someone trashes the machine? The discussion here is about reliability and service mainly.

You are being hypocritical with your rude statements about M&R customers being loyal and yet you sound exactly like an Anatol loyalist your self.

[GraphicDisorder]

LOL THREAD

[screenprintguy]

Wow, well I don't know about all of the claims, but I do know this. When we were shopping for our auto, we did our research, we hadn't gotten as in depth with shop owners across the country and abroad as we have now 7 years later, but, with that said, we had narrowed the search down to MHM, M&R, and Anatol. MHM was just plain out of our price range at the time as it was our first auto purchase and we needed something more at the entry level with as many colors as we could get. That now left use between M&R and Anatol. With Anatol we emailed, called, and faxed, not to mention went to their booth at trade show leaving plenty of information to, NEVER EVER, get a call back about buying a new machine. We even went to the point where we sent several emails, and several phone calls, to NEVER, get a call returned. We figured well, heck, if we can't get them to call us back when wanting to spend 30 or so thousand dollars with them, what happens if we need support. Now, obviously with M&R, as soon as we expressed our interest, the contact was there every which way you could imagine, not in the, "bash the other guys and only buy from us" way, but knowing we were knew at buying an automatic, giving us the information we needed to know to make the right choice. Knowing that info would open up other choices, like progressive, Tuff, ect. We still took our time to make our decision and decided to go with the company we felt supplied what we needed and was their to support it. I'm sure there are independent techs out there for any of these machines, and bottom line, if shops are lucky enough to have that contact alone, they feel more secure in a purchase, but for us, it was as basic as returning an email, or a phone call.

Here is an example:::::

I have a friend in Alabama, bought his Diamond back through a dealer. Has had a few issues with it, communicating to M&R through the dealer, he wasn't satisfied on how it was going. Let me now note here,  his press was really never totally out of commission just some air cylinder glitches. We too have a DB and besides replacing a couple choppers, never had the issue he had. A month later I'm chatting with him and he says he's still occasionally having the issue and the dealer made him feel that it was "his" fault, "going back to the statement, gear is only as good as the operator subject". I emailed Rich Hoffman and just briefly let him know what my pal was expressing. THAT DAY, he had multiple calls from service manager at M&R, THAT week, he had a tech flying in from Chicago to go over his machine and replace any part that could cause this issue.  ---------- This all from 1 little 4 sentence email to Rich.  It's not a "tail kissing" thing, or a, "trying to get a seat on the board"---- that one is funny. It's just plain out fact of superior customer care, and personal care from the CEO of a large company. How many times could any of us expect a personal reply from say the CEO of Hirsch, or Burgman, or Anatol ect, probably never, probably won't get much of a reply from a managing partner, and in some cases not even a reply from customer support from some of these companies. Although I will state that Dan Axleson of Workhorse is a cool dude and will personally email with you and handle an issue for you, other than that, countless testimonies from shop owners I have personally spoke with about lack of proper communication from other companies. I am in no way saying that Anatol doesn't make a good machine, they actually look like dam good machines, but for me, when I couldn't get a returned phone, fax or email to try and spend money with them, there was nooooooo way I could ever conceive the notion of spending a dime with them. One more thing, even talking with one of their dealers on the East Coast, his contact stopped as well, only to find out he high tailed it to China, couldn't count on his support either as he seemed to not be able to return emails from China, lol.   

[NiteOwlGraphics]

Maybe I'm just the luckiest guy in the screenprinting world then! My guess is that they're a small company trying to grow and not that Anatol DIDN'T want to sell you a press, but I could be wrong. If that's reason enough for you to spend $40K instead of $20K than that's clearly within your rights, doesn't mean it was the right or smart thing to do though.

[inkman996]

Maybe I'm just the luckiest guy in the screenprinting world then! My guess is that they're a small company trying to grow and not that Anatol DIDN'T want to sell you a press, but I could be wrong. If that's reason enough for you to spend $40K instead of $20K than that's clearly within your rights, doesn't mean it was the right or smart thing to do though.

Your problem is you are making a lot of assumptions about other peoples experiences. You flat out called people liars yet you couldn't possibly know if they are lying or not, how could you? Quoted above case in point how on earth do you know if he paid 40k for his press and how could you possibly know if what he would have bought from Anatol would only have been 20k?

Anatol has earned their reputation over the years, this thread is proof positive they have a serious image issue that needs to be dealt with otherwise these threads will always consist of support and communication issues. No one has made any of this up it is real and has been real for over a decade concerning Anatol. * Everyone knows the CEO is a douche and is their biggest road block, many good people have worked for Anatol and struggled to improve their product and service and yet every single one of those people I speak of no longer work for Anatol.
Maybe you should go work for them, and when a customer calls you and tells you the servo crapped out you can tell them sorry but it is your fault for not being an engineer and fixing it your self.


*Frog edit
I don't think that that statement is true. I, for instance do not know that he is a douche.

As for the turnover in employees, some of that is due to "raiding" by other companies.

That said, I've been assured that things are and will continue to improve, but as we know, the proof is in the pudding. Let's see.

[Zelko-4-EVA]

Maybe I'm just the luckiest guy in the screenprinting world then! My guess is that they're a small company trying to grow and not that Anatol DIDN'T want to sell you a press, but I could be wrong. If that's reason enough for you to spend $40K instead of $20K than that's clearly within your rights, doesn't mean it was the right or smart thing to do though.

the resale value of an M&R press makes up for the extra that you spend.  the anatols depreciate faster than a european luxury car. 

how much would you pay for a 10/12 2001 Trident SVX vs. a 10/12 2001 gauntlet? 

ive seen a Trident go for less than 10k, and a gauntlet go for around 25k.  figure that each press started at around 65k - you could take that 25k and put it toward a new gauntlet.  the trident? - to only get around 10k?  thats a down payment on a used gauntlet...

and yes - we have a Trident, and yes we have a Gauntlet. 

the 2003 gauntlet has 4.5 million prints, and the 2001 trident? dont know - we had to replace the circuit board that knew how many prints we had. 

you will more likely be able to find replacement parts for an M&R than you would for an Anatol. 

[Prosperi-Tees]

Be glad that you are a 99%er 

I bet 99% of people will probably be perfectly happy and fine with Anatol. The issue is the 1% are probably having more issues with their equipment than they should so I think some of the Anatol bashing is uncalled for in a sense. And like others have said get the press that you are most comfortable and that fits your requirements and you will be fine. As long as you are not that 1% 

[TCT]

I would be willing to wager quite a bit that there isn't a press out there that could keep up with the Titan or Horizon I have in terms of speed.  And I read someone post that they were "lied to by Anatol before delivery" or something like that, that's the one post that I know is a flat out 100% lie unless the buyer was unclear about the "details" of the purchase, which I wouldn't doubt.

Joseph J. DiDonato
Owner
Midwest Graphics &
8845 Graphic Design
1200 W. 35th
Chicago, IL 60609
Cell: (734) 320-1100
email: Didonato8845@gmail.com

You seem rather confident there, but don't know what you are talking about. I bought a press and dryer the same week. I have the ridiculous emails from the rep at anatol still. Without going to a long story and not wanting to turn this into more of a circus, I'll keep it short. How long do most people think a ocean shipment from Poland to the states takes? I am talking from the point it leaves the port to arrival in port. We have done a fair share of overseas shipping and I would guess 10-14 days depending on stops. According to the knowledgeable reps at anatol it regularly takes 3 months, and that is not unusual..... Also according to them it is common to lose track of or not know where a ship(ocean liner) is in it's travels for up to 2 weeks... You can track damn near any ship out there with a 15min update of current corse, past courses, and anticipates schedules. I would love to see a ocean liner leave port somewhere in europe and say to the shipping docks in NY or NJ "hey we will see you guys some time between next week and 3 months from now. We can just pull in and off load any time right?"

I have said like many people, I don't really have a problem with their presses(dryers are different story) just the company that is supposed to stand behind them.

I am by no means a blue backer, in fact the only piece of M&R equipment I could ever see us possibly buying is a auto coater. I just have found something I like better. But when it comes down between anatol and M&R and someone is asking about a first auto in the $20K range I just tried to put the options out there. When I bought our first stuff, it was a huge investment in anatol to help us to the next level. Did we make it? Yes, but there was a huge amount of dancing around and let downs along the way, which made it more challenging. I am not afraid of a challenge but hell, if you knew you could go down two identical paths and end up in the same place would you rather take the one with a 10% chance of bumps or the one with a 50% chance of bumps? Exact same paths just maintained by two different companies. 

If you want to see a press print faster that your unbeatable 1,150/hr come on up to MN and I will let you see it first hand.

I have gone on too much here and I am sorry but I take a heavy interest in equipment in this industry and could go on for days.


Sweetts, Man I am sorry things got so derailed. Looks like for your footprint you would have the following options:
-Titan
-Horizon Mini
-Diamondback L
-Javelin or Freedom presses maybe looks like their standard outside dimensions are 10'5"
-Lawson Mini-Trooper
Heck if you want to get real out there ASPE(tag printer company) has a new press that will print 12"x12" now:
http://aspesite.com/LPXL.php#.UkL4S4ZwqSo