# Help for Canadian embroiderers



## jroussel (Sep 21, 2016)

Hello everyone! I am going to appologise in advance as this is going to be a LONG post...

So I have been trolling the threads here for about three weeks now trying to gather enough information to try and answer my question without making a post.

Unfortunately, while the forums have been useful to get a baseline for what common opinions are on the major machine lines, I have the added troubles of being a Canadian embroiderer.

I will explain a bit more and hope someone can point me in the right direction.

I am a small hobbyist embroiderer working to grow my company and expand into a bit of production work to keep the money coming in. I presently run off a home embroidery machine (Brother Quattro 6700D) which uses a flatbed style of embroidery arm. As I've been able to gather, to do any type of decent production work you need 2 things, the capacity to stitch caps and more than one needle. Neither of which are met by my current set-up. 

I stered my search for a new machine by looking at the Brother "pro-consumer" PR1000E unfortunately within a 10 minute conversation woth my brother "dealer" (if they can be called that) i realized the 12k pricetag and severe lack of accessories would take this machine out of the running.

Next i started looking at fully commercial machines, but this is where it all gets jumbled up and where I would need your help, fellow posters.

Given the minimal space in my studio I can only really concider a compact model. So i have looked at the Avance 1501c, the Ricoma 1501pt and tc, the melco emt16, the happy hcd2 1501 as well as a few Barudans and Tajimas.

I would have a dealer and in house tech for the happy about 45 minutes away, though with a 20k pricetag and barely any accessories, I am looking at my other options first.

The Ricomas are 10900 and 11900 respectively, come in from a city about 6 hours away and have a very full compliment of acccessories included with the machine. My only pause is from reading different reviews on this and another embroidery forum which seems to give a concensus that Ricoma has less than stellar aftersales customer support.

The avance comes in from florida, has a 15k pricetag after the exchange rate with a full compliment of accessories like with the ricomas. I havent been able to find much info on the avance or on coldesi as a company as they seem kind of new or just really good at avoiding negative publicity. I know a lot of you are probably cringing with all the china-made machines im listing off, but again, being up in Canada, my oprions are beyond limited.

Carrying on!

The melco come from a dealer about 30 minutes away, almost 19k with 6 hoops and no other accessories.

The barudans and tajimas are at the top of the peice list varying anywhere from 19k to 27k with anything drom 4 to 7 hoops and no other standard accessories.

So my question to you fellow posters is the following, 

Do i go for a closer dealer and tech for a higher price but get a machine with barely any meat to the starting package? Or do i go with a slightly farther dealer with unknown or debateable aftersales support but get a machine that will be covered on the accessories front from day 1?

I am hoping someone can shed a bit of lighf on my situation and maybe help we whittle down my list some more.

Thanks to anyone who answers!!


----------



## LTPEMB (Jul 10, 2015)

This is sort of a universall answer whatever country you are in, what are you planning to do with your machine what is your target market. it ultimately boils down to what you plan to do with it. What features you are looking for THEN decide. pretty much all machines are expensive and you have to buy the additional parts if (with the exception of hat drivers).


----------



## SunEmbroidery (Oct 18, 2007)

I would choose the closer dealer and tech support with the respected machine brand and not be concerned about accessories especially if its items such as backing, needles and thread. I never used a lot of the accessories that came with my first machine but I definitely did use the technical and software support.


----------



## digitizewedo (Nov 2, 2010)

Get a used Tajima, they range in price between 7000-15000 for a single head. 
The parts are available, technicians are plentiful, contact Twiga for used machines and repairs
Alnoor is great, I work with providing digitizing training and software help..


----------



## oldstunt (Mar 22, 2008)

Take a look at superpunch.com johnny is the owner he is close to Montreal. He does a lot of our digitizing as we are just across the border from Cornwall Ontario. Johnny is very good and has been in the biz for a long time.


----------



## jroussel (Sep 21, 2016)

oldstunt said:


> Take a look at superpunch.com johnny is the owner he is close to Montreal. He does a lot of our digitizing as we are just across the border from Cornwall Ontario. Johnny is very good and has been in the biz for a long time.


Ive already contacted them, seem very nice and very capable but the 20k pricetag on the basic model leaves me a little doubting


----------



## T Shirt Time (Mar 18, 2013)

I would choose the one who has the best warranty for you. Check to make sure the warranty is still active your country and what it would cost you to get a service man to repair you machine.


----------



## naldopr (Feb 11, 2016)

make sure you buy a good brand and most important they are close to you or at least a few hours from you.
Im going through a headed with our machine. the dealer is 100% great on services at least for now but distance is a issue due technician travel cost that I cant afford now do your self a favor by experience buy a proven brand Barudan tajima new or used avoid china brand all the way this thread break and false thread break dilema is a mayor problem! barudan are expensive but trust me if I knew I was going to be in this dilema I definitely spend 6k more for a proven brand.


----------



## lgembroidery705 (Nov 16, 2016)

I live in Northern Ontario, i have 12+ years in embroidery business i must tell you buy best brand you can afford with good service. yes the Barudan's and the Tajima's are more money. But think of service. My Barudan was the best machine i ever owned and service was second to none. I thought i would save money buying a Melco EMT 16, yes saved money on initial investment and Paul in Guelph is great to deal with but your just can't compare the quality of the machines. The Melco is supposed to run at 1200 spm and it does but more thread breaks than the Barudan that runs at 900spm. Just sold my Melco and buying Barudan again. the extra 150$ month will make up for it in frustration of thread break


----------



## api (Nov 22, 2009)

We are less than 30 minutes from ColDesi; purchased an expensive rhinestone machine from them. Good, correct people, logically we should have bought our embrodery machine there also, but we wanted a (single head) Tajima instead. That was a good decision. We are using it for about 3 years now; no service calls yet. 

If I were in your shoes:

1.) I would calculate if I can make enough PROFIT with a single head to return my investment and make money. Most of the times a single head cannot make enough profit unless you have a good business model for that.

2.) I would buy commercial machine only. (Barudan, Tajima, ZSK, etc.))

3.) Maintenance and support is very important. 

4.) Accessories are not so important, but for flat products use the magnetic Mightyhoop. (We have never touched our original Tajima hoops.)

Good luck!


----------

