Amaya Opinions

[Barry]

First off, Happy Holidays to everyone.

I have the opportunity to purchase a refurbished Amaya for a decent price. My current setup is a home machine (Brother 2001ULT), and we are ready to make the leap into a commercial quality single head machine. Because of this being our first and only commercial machine, it would need to be very flexible in what we are asking it to do and put out the best quality possible on each. Since starting this we have been approached to do hats, tote bags, golf towels, and your normal shirts and jackets. So there is quite a wide application. What I'm looking for is an honest opinion of these machines. The machine would be of vintage 2002 - 2004, depending on what is in the shop being refurb'd. I'm also received an offer for a 6 needle (601C) machine for pretty much the same price. I have read some posts on the web about the Amaya and the learning curve with the auto-tension and also the quality embroidering on caps. The quote is good for this year (12/31) so I need to pull the trigger quickly if I'm going to do this.

All opinions welcome,

Thanks you,
Barry

Sorry if this gets posted twice, did it via the freelist as well.

[levelbest]

Barry:

I think I am going to come at this from a unique perspective in that prior to buying our Amaya, we had a ULT 2002 D - which is essentially the same machine you have with the exception of the disney designs.

The biggest thing I can tell you besides the fact that this machine is pretty awesome is that I hope you don't expect to be up, productive and going full steam from day one transitioning from the type of equipment you are on to any real commercial embroidery machine. And MAKE SURE YOU GO TO TRAINING! [img]smile.gif[/img]

The ULT2002 D was NOTHING like running the Amaya. We had to throw out what we thought we knew we should do to a large extent because things just didn't translate.

That being said, we finally lost the mindset, settled down and worked with the machine - and became productive. However, most of our frustrations came during the first 3 months as we learned how to get the job done.

I doubt there is a person on this list that would trade a 6 needle anything for a 16 needle Amaya. It's funny... when we did work on the Brother Machine, I thought - what the heck would you need 16 needles for. You'd be suprised!

You'll be fine and this list is a TREMENDOUS resource to get you thru a tight spot or over a hump.

[Steve]

My parents had a 6 needle machine for 15 years and they really wished they had more colors at least 1000 times. The first time you do a 30 color change jacket back Dakota design, you will wish you had at least 10 needles. Even then, the 16 color Amaya isn't enough. (Amaya has the most colors out of any commercial embroidery machine.)
If you get a Melco or some other brand, I would suggest getting a machine with at least 10-12 colors.

[J&O Enterprises]

John - I just made the jump from a 6 needle 4-head machine to 2 2004 Amaya's and have a thread started on it. I was VERY hessitant to make the change. That said, I am VERY happy with the trade up! First off, the quality of the sew if far superior to what I was getting from my much older machine. 2nd, the older machine slowed down a LOT during fill-stiches. With the Amaya, I sew between 900-1000 SPM and it basically maintains that stich speed through all points of the design. Thus, I'm actually sewing much faster in aggrogate than simply a 750 spm versus 900 spm, again, because the Amaya maintains speed throughout the pattern.

I was able to go from 4 hrs hand-off training to production very quickly. Switching to the Amaya is not that bad. Plus, I and many others check this forum many times a day and will gladly help with questions. If you are handy with Window's type software, "running" the Amayas from a computer is easier to grasp. As a default, once you load the design into the machine you can basically do everything from the keypad if that makes you more comfortable. For me, I find the tracking laser INCREDIBLY HELPFUL and couldn't see embroiderying without one again. If you are going to be doing your own digitizing, the speed from which you can go from test sew, alter digitizing, test sew, is amazingly fast compared to the 6 needle. I think you will save every bit of early "training" time or fustration initially, by the speed and quality of the sew later.

Go for the Amaya and don't look back!
Thanks,

[Barry]

Thanks to all for taking the time to reply, is there any issues with these machines and quality on hats. I have seen some online information where the quality on hats was an issue at some point. The refurb machine is supposedly updated hardware and software wise.

[Just Sew It]

Barry, I do more hats than anything else and have two 2005 Amayas. Never have any problem with hats that I did not create. Just make sure the 6-panel hat is firmly hooped and near center and firmly hoop the unstructured hat and pull the top of the hat down in back and clamp on both sides. I use light tearaway cap backing on structured and the heavy backing on unstructured. I have 8 dozen to do right now. Just work with the machine and the hoop, I've used them all but just have WACF now.
Had an EMT-10T and an SWF before and wouldn"t have them back.

[Barry]

Thanks to all that replied, looks like I'll be making my purchase today [img]smile.gif[/img] I'll be getting a 2004 Refurb.

Regards,
Barry