[REaD THREAD]

Hi All,
Ok I'v narrowed it down to a Tajima or SWF. Tajima is a tad more expensive. I walked away with a feeling that tajima's training for digitizing software was a little better. I'm not sure why and I may be wrong. Both of those companies offices are of equal distance away from me. Any suggestions regarding experiance with Training support quality?
Buying expensive equipment is mind numbing, every one is the industry leader.

 

[COEDS]

I like the SWF machines and support staff. I will say ,I think the best software is the wilcom. I'm not sure if either of them use this software. I think you will get equal training from either company. .... JB

 

[plan b]

I do know that SWF is a top notch company,, and the other thing that most people don't know is that it is a one family ownership although they have a few companies,, I didn't know this until I talked to John Coleman on of the family members , so family owned and operated can't see were you can go wrong.

 

[deChez]

Depends upon which distributor you're buying your SWF from. I've heard that SWF EAST provides good service. But, I'm here to tell you that Mesa Distributors (the west coast distributor for SWF) has possibly the most useless customer service department I've ever dealt with. Both machine and software support are nearly impossible to reach, and when you do finally get someone on the phone, they are rude, and horribly incompetent.

 

[COEDS]

I have only dealt with SWF EAST. I have heard the same thing about MESA. .... JB

 

[plan b]

I am sorry for not explaining east and west.

 

[SunEmbroidery]

My final choice was between Tajima and SWF and at the last moment I decided to go with Tajima because the machine seemed better. I did attend training at SWF East in NJ and it was very good. At the time I was told that I could come back for as much training as I needed which I thought was an excellent offer. I did receive one-on-one software training from Hirsch (Pulse software) which was very good. Although I haven't called much, phone/email support for Pulse has been good. There is also Pulse List, an email support list where you can post questions and receive answers like you do in this forum. Phone support for machine tech issues has also been good although I haven't called much because I haven't needed too. There is a SWF users group in Yahoo groups which would be helpful if you decide to go with SWF. Although many consider Wilcom to be the best embroidery software, Pulse ranks 1# for others. The important thing is that you know how to do what you want to do and its fairly easy to accomplish that.

 

[sandollar]

I've owned a Tajima for three years and I always had some sort of problems ( not large ones) the tech in a box was just not what you would expect. Called a third party tech and the timing was off just enough to cause the problems. Now my neo just sews and sews and sews......

 

[REaD THREAD]

Thanks for the Info Mike and Jennifer. Did the Tajima training teach you to digitize at all?

 

[SunEmbroidery]

Yes, I did learn the basics of digitizing. Its been a few years but when I started training was in two parts. The first part discussed the basics and editing. If you purchased digitizing software (Illustrator or above) you could attend the second part of training which discussed digitizing.

Digitizing is a skill that can only be learned through lots of practice and watching well-digitized designs run. Software training can only give you the basics. If you can attend ISS Imprinted Sportwear Shows because you can take digitizing classes to help answer your questions and refine your skills. Thomas Moore (Strawberry Stitch) http://www.strawberrystitch.com/Books.php has written a very popular book, Digitizing 101, on how to digitize.

 

[sandollar]

Sam,
When I got my Neo thay sold me on the Pulse line of software, so I got Pulse Illustrator thinking that I would be able to handle just about any thing. I was wrong. Three years went by fighting the program and just last year I bought DecoStudio, it is more user frindly but it still has a lot of draw backs. Like Jennifer says lots of practice no matter which program you get. Good luck.

 

[REaD THREAD]

Thanks for the info! Does pulse illustrator have anything to do with adobe illustrator?

 

[sandollar]

Not to my knowledge, I do know that if you want to create artwork it must be done in some other program and load from image. Last I heard thay were trying to work out something with Corel ?????. Pulse does have some fetures that are hard to bet, Like a ton of stitch patterns. Wilcom decostudio doesn't. Just look at each feature in what ever program you are looking at. And pick the program that YOU think works for you not what the sells rep is making look good. It seems all programs seam to work a little different once you get them home, ( the learning curve ). Hope this is of some help, I'm sure someone in the forum can shed more light on this subject than I.

 

[sunnydayz]

I bought my Hm1 printer from SWf mesa in anahiem and I have always had excellent customer service from them. I have never had a problem with getting someone on the phone and having service at my location quickly with my machine. I have only had to have service twice, the first time they were at my location the next day, less then 24 hours later. The second time I had to wait for a part to ship to them from texas, but as soon as they recieved it they were at my location, again by the next day. That total service with shipping the part and getting to my location was I beleive 4 days which was not bad for having a part come from texas and getting here to install it. Just wanted to post since I have had such positive experiences with the west coast distributor.

 

[SunEmbroidery]

Pulse Illustrator is a name for a level of software in Pulse. It is the first level that includes digitizing features. Adobe Illustrator is an artwork program.

 

[Friday's]

We run SWF exclusively in our shop and have had nothing but 100% support and great service. Yes a few down times here and there but 1 phone call and in mins or till parts came in the next day we were up and running. 99% of the time it was user errors. We are located in Canada and use SWF Canada for support and having nothing but good to say about them. Training was wonderful. Our equipment runs almost 12 hour days everyday and keep running. Both are great machines but we found Tajima was to much $$$ and parts and service later was very expensive. Have fun...

 

[AstoundingAppare]

Hello Sam,
I Currently own both SWF's and Toyota's and the Service and Training have always been Top Notch. I love both brands of machines, but I must say the SWF quick change cap driver is priceless, considering I can switch from flats to caps on my SWF 6 head faster than I can on my Toyota single head(which is the same cap driver as the Tajima)
Now I do hear that all the time that Wilcom is the Best Software, but a little hard to learn. I don't digitize, but I have been told SWF's software provides more features than you will ever need, and if the training is anything like the machine training, than I know you will be very happy.
Also, as far as machine quality SWF, Tajima, and Toyota are all similar quality, but we keep buying SWF's because the machines come standard with features not available on other brands. Like Automatic oiling, Quick Change Cap Driver(10 sec's), Laser Trace, and Built in lighting.(some company's claim you get these, but they really just rename their features to sound like they offer it)
Anyways it sounds like you have probably made up your mind, but just remember that this is your 1st machine purchase, not your last, and from what I can tell you will wind up with a good machine either way... Now you just need the orders
Best Regards,
John

 

[kimberly0325]

Dongle for a Tajima Pulse Software

The USB portion just broke off on my Tajima Pulse Software dongle. Does anyone know what the approximate cost is to replace the dongle?

 

[sandollar]

Kimberly, Wow a broken Dongle. Give Tajima a call, If the program is less than a year old thay may have you send the pieces to them and reissue you a new one for a small fee.
If it is is older like other programs you are looking at paying for a upgrade into a newer version of the program plus a fee. Where I work I use another program and someone stepped on a dongle, it was 75% of a whole new program to replace. Sorry for the bad luck. Hope you can get it replaced with out to much Pain.