what to choose??

[DeltaNL]

Im Delta.
Im from Holland and ive been tattooing for about 4 years now. I worked few years in a tattooshop in Holland. Now my life is goin to change, in a few months i go travel the world. Ive been travelling a lot in the past but now i want to travel as long as possible.
Ofcourse i take my tattoo-equipement with me!!! And i want to meet lots of artists.....
Im completely new to the rotary machines and i hope to find some get some good advice here for my new fase in tattooing and in life. So i hope i will get here some good advice for my choice wich rotary to buy.
The machine must be so much allround as possible. using it for lining shading and colouring and easy to adjust and easy in use and maintain,
Ive been reading a lot on this forum....but its difficult to make the right choice because the opinions are so divers about every machine.
a few options crossed my mind:

- swash drive
- neo tat
- dragonfly

What is the best choice within the specifications i want?

[The Limey]

Well this is purely subjective as everyone tattoos slightly differently but, for an all purpose machine from your list I'd probably go with the Swashdrive

[DeltaNL]

why is that?

[DeltaNL]

and wich swashdrive should u recommend?
the gen7 or the whip?

[OwlsDen]

I would pick two and discover what you like about each and what each is best for. Maybe the Neo and te Swash. Both opposite sides of the same coin. That way you have two good machines. The Swash will eventually need a new clips so make sure to order some spares if you get one used. Also the one time I used a Swash it had some wear on the front clip and made the needle bar move in a slight oval, this is why I wouldn't consider it a good choice for lining. But this is my experience and may not be yours.

[The Limey]

why is that?

It works well, with standard needles or if you prefer the Hawk or T-Tech type cartridges, only has 1 stroke length option, comes with a soft and hard clip as standard and is quiet, light and vibration free. I'm sure others will have differing opinions but that's my 2 cents.

[OwlsDen]

I was speaking of the Swash gen 6, the whip is another animal. I have never used one.

[The Limey]

I've had a gen 6 & 7, personally I liked the 7 more as it lined really well for me... I've not tried a whip so I can't comment but there are loads of threads about them if u search.

[tugg]

I'd recommend the nedz machine as you can have different strokes and spring settings making this a very versatile machine.

[Administrator]

Im Delta.
Im from Holland and ive been tattooing for about 4 years now. I worked few years in a tattooshop in Holland. Now my life is goin to change, in a few months i go travel the world. Ive been travelling a lot in the past but now i want to travel as long as possible.
Ofcourse i take my tattoo-equipement with me!!! And i want to meet lots of artists.....
Im completely new to the rotary machines and i hope to find some get some good advice here for my new fase in tattooing and in life. So i hope i will get here some good advice for my choice wich rotary to buy.
The machine must be so much allround as possible. using it for lining shading and colouring and easy to adjust and easy in use and maintain,
Ive been reading a lot on this forum....but its difficult to make the right choice because the opinions are so divers about every machine.
a few options crossed my mind:

- swash drive
- neo tat
- dragonfly

What is the best choice within the specifications i want?

One thing to keep in mind is if you end up completely hating what you got there are always folks on here looking for all three of what you listed so you can often make a decent trade just in case you are worried about it.

[DeltaNL]

difficult!! more options...lol

[chris-in-cali]

If you are looking for a great all-arounder...I would say look at stroke lengths.

For me, I found that the perfect stroke length for lining on a rotary is 3- 3.5 mm
Swash gen 7 has a slightly bigger stroke which to me, makes it a better shader.
I just got a neo-tat vivace and I am blown away at how well the machine packs color and shades....the vivace also has a 3.5 mm stoke which in theory should make it a great liner too... i have tried to line with it, but had to move a little slow....I think this can be compensated for by uping the volts...

so, in my opinion, the best all arounder I have tried would be the neo-tat vivace.

oh, and I would give my left pinky toe for a nice vacation to Holland!!

[Dreviltattoo]

I use dragonflies for my daily drivers. They do everything I ask them to. Adjustable if u like to change it up. Lining is great for me and with rotaries that is always the question.

[DeltaNL]

:) you also welcome when you keep the pinky....

[Sage Oz]

I use my gen6 swashdrive daily, used it happily with everything except fineline for which I feel it's overpowered at speed, b&grey is good too but gotta use a light touch. Otherwise, med-bold line, color shading, packing and tribalry are all close to on par or better than any other I've tried. If its the only rotory you're ever going to have there might be better all arounders that incorporate throw, damping, and give adjustments that are quick and easy to do on the fly, my choices: Ned'z, whip, dragonfly, and the much anticipated Spektra halo. Haven't tried the centri as I still have to knock ever a 7-11 for the cost but if it's half as good as the hype(and I bet it is why I really want one) it sounds like it excells at everthing without adjustment.

[DeltaNL]

well i dont know if its the only rotary i ever gonna use. For now it is the best option for taking with me for my travelling.
I heard and read many good things about the dragonfly aswell...but as i look at the design there are so many small breakable parts. Atleast it looks like it.
Does anyone know of or have expierence with the durability of the dragonfly and problems with those parts?
The other mentioned machines like the Ned'z, swash, or Neo are looking more firm to me....or am i wrong?

[Sage Oz]

You can't go wrong with any of those as they are all highly rated. My swash is really compact and seems durable, weight and balance are great and it was really easy to convert to from coils. I've also used it for a good solid year and haven't had to change the clip yet. I have made a few mods:ceramic bearings, titanium and aluminum bolts, a top guard rail to keep the bags from touching the moving bits-made from a ti bike spoke, a finned motor heatsink-had to cut a chunk outta the frame lol, and a single-eared tube vice nut. I guess I really like customizing my stuff...

[ckjr]

I had a custom cam drive and a blitz when I first started with rotaries........... both hard hitters that scared the hell outa me. I adjusted my hand movement to compensate. I say go with a good linear for a liner and back it up with a stigma. dragonfly is an awesome machine, but lately a few of us at the shop have been having stay up spring issues

[slicksteel]

nedz mid stroke or a rapier with med spring setup both are great allrounders.

[peter clements]

I don't think you'd go wrong with one of Dan Kubin's mini crankers, if you tell him you want an all rounder he'll deal with it. He's a great builder to deal with.

[DeltaNL]

I don't think you'd go wrong with one of Dan Kubin's mini crankers, if you tell him you want an all rounder he'll deal with it. He's a great builder to deal with.

This machine is totaly unknow to me....

[DeltaNL]

anyone else has some experience with that machine?

[peter clements]

anyone else has some experience with that machine?

look at this post http://www.rotarytattoo.com/showthread.php/2491-Dan-Kubin-armature-rotary-adjustable-stroke-and-color-packing-videos

[DeltaNL]

First of all thx everyone for the advice. You guys are very good help!!
After lots of reading and comparing and more reading and comparing and again again and again the same...this is my conclusion.
There are a few machines wich are very populair and the reviews of them are great. Its very difficult to choose the best one for me...
why? because everybody works different, with different strokes and give etc. everybody has his/her own specifications for the machine. What works for one , doesnt work for the other......
So what works for me?
I go for the dragonfly.
why?
first because i think its a great allrounder ( if i may believe the reviews)
next is the fact that it looks like its easy to adjust to my my way of working....
next is the great design ofcourse.
and

One thing to keep in mind is if you end up completely hating what you got there are always folks on here looking for all three of what you listed so you can often make a decent trade just in case you are worried about it.

ofcourse there are few things what i may even dont like:
many parts, high cost.

i will keep the quote in my mind

Gonna order the dragonfly today and i hope it will work great for me.