Buying a Hotronix Fusion - Thoughts?

[mimosatexas]

After comparing the Hix Swingman, GeoKnight swinger and the Fusion, I'm heavily leaning toward the Fusion.  The ability to change out the bottom platen to a whole host of different options and the ability to thread stuff onto the platen easily are huge.  Presets and double pressing etc is just icing.  Threading on the Hix would be impossible and it felt kind of cheap.  I love GeoKnight and threading would be workable with larger stuff, but not smaller items.  It also weights almost 200 pounds so I would have to have help to move it if ever necessary.  On the hotronix, I know some folks have complained about the aluminum body, but I'm wondering how big of a deal that will be.  It also looks like that should be covered under the 5 year warranty (unless I'm missing some fine print).

It looks like the best deal right now would be to buy through bestblanks.com with a 5% off code and free shipping.  They also have a "double the warranty" deal for $15, which seems like a no brainer.  Any input on whether bestblanks is shady or on the up and up, or if there is a better deal to be had somewhere else.  Not interested in buying used on this one...

Any thoughts are appreciated!

[mk162]

I own a fusion air.  I wouldn't buy another one.  I thing the UL certification on these is bogus.  We melted the wires going into the circuit board and fried the board.  It also melted the power switch.  They put puny 14ga wires inside the unit directly from the power supply to the board, which to me is undersized.  And they get hot when it's on.  Especially when the switch wears a bit and doesn't make great contact.

My advice, don't do it unless you really want to test out how good that warranty is.

[aauusa]

we have the fusion air and love it.  we have had 2 circuit boards go bad but stahls took care of it with no issues.   but yes I would buy another and will most likely do so within the year.

[XG Print]

We have a Fusion.  It is a few years old but has been pretty reliable for us considering the  abuse it has had on the road doing shows.  I would definitely buy another.  Guess we have been lucky!!

[mk162]

our auto rotate failed as well.  forgot about that.

the air regulator on the back failed as well.

all of this on a unit in less than 2.5 years.

Maybe we got a lemon.

[XG Print]

our auto rotate failed as well.  forgot about that.

the air regulator on the back failed as well.

all of this on a unit in less than 2.5 years.

Maybe we got a lemon.

Ours is not air so maybe most of the problems are with the air units.  I'm with you though if I had all that go wrong I'd be looking elsewhere.

[mimosatexas]

With all of that going out, was any of it covered by the warranty?  How difficult was it to get parts?  Not interested in the air option, but definitely interested in how Stahls supports their stuff.

Edit: Has anyone bought anything from this bestblanks place before?  Saves about $100 versus going through Stahls directly, but wondering if they will actually honor the extended warranty stuff...

[aauusa]

stahls replaced the boards each time at no cost to us.   There service is awesome IMO.  they have helped trouble shoot some air issues with no problems.

[mimosatexas]

Did you buy directly from Stahls or from a reseller?

[aauusa]

we bought direct from stahls

[shirtz]

We had one and sold it after less than a year. The digital display made me nuts. I love the idea of being able to split the shirt, but it came up short in so many ways.

[mimosatexas]

Can you expand on the issues with the digital display?  After using the knight and hix digital displays it seemed A LOT better when it came to most things.  The hix in particular was frustrating at best...  GeoKnight was workable, just not exactly easy to use.

[shirtz]

The icons on the touch screen were not lined up correctly (out of registration for lack of a better explanation) made it frustrating at best to use.

[dsh]

I got a Knight air 14X16 at least 3 years ago.  I still have a 16X20 knight clamshell that I rarely use as the 14X16 does everything I need.  I consider it one of the best purchases I have made.  Much easier on the arms and shoulders.  And you can get different size platens that just pop in.  They'll also custom make a platen if needed.  I use it nearly everyday especially since I added printable vinyl. 

[tonypep]

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