which is the king of rotaries?

lozer81 · #1 05-09-2011, 11:07 AM

im a coil man myself, but have been really considering rotaries here lately, im thinking about either a bishop or a neo-tat, but now theres many good rotaries all with different advantages and disadvantages,like for instance:

hyper stigma- great but expensive and long waiting period

neuma hybrid new- wayyyy louder winding sound,has to slow down before stopping.

neo-tat - linear ... very quiet,uses clip to avoid whole rubber band thing, but has no give

bishop- linear.....also has clip elimating rubber bands, seems to be the best bet to me at the moment.

dragonfly- awesome looking machine,but the mechanism pushing against the needlebar can put too much pressure on it and slowing down/wearing out the motor more,or so i hear.

hawk- heard bad things about, cartridges costs way too much

swashdrives-im totally clueless about.

fly- also totally clueless.

so, which one is the absolute best? i know they are all great machines, and that great tattoo artist can do great work with anything, but im trying to figure out which one is the best buy for my next purchase.

im leaning towards a bishop or a neo-tat,also considering the dragonfly.

i seen people buy the cheap crap ones on teh ebay, but i wouldn't buy one of them for a paper weight.

tattooing_the_stars · #2 05-09-2011, 03:37 PM

PERSONALLY

Neuma or stigma. those are my two favorites. by far. aswell as the dragonfly

Frek · #3 05-09-2011, 04:36 PM

Dude I dont know how pressed you are about getting a rotary but FK Irons is about to drop one....I did a little write up about it on this site....its got an available spring kit for it so it can achieve a "coil like" give......I dont know much about rotaries but, FK Irons always seems to have some really good machines....I think its worth the wait.....JMO....

travelingtom · #4 05-10-2011, 10:52 AM

the only rotary i have ever used was the gen 7 swashdrive, and i wanted to steal it from my boss, i loved the s&!t out of that thing. no give on it though, but that was kinda the good thing about it, because you know that that s&!t is getting in there!!!

JohnnyChaos · #5 05-14-2011, 01:24 PM

I don't think there's an absolute best. A lot of it depends on your technique and how YOU tattoo.

I've used Neuma n2, Rotary Works, Stealth, Hawk, and 3 different stigmas (hyper v1, v2 and Bizarre) and for me personally the Hawk wins hands down. It's the only machine I use now since getting it and the first rotary I've liked lining with!
I do think you either love or hate the cartridges, and I personally love them. especially the liners from t-tech.

The FK machine looks good though and I would love to try a dragonfly, but I'm moving away from machines with "Give" really.. I don't think it's needed. It just requires a different technique.

ErniE · #6 05-15-2011, 06:20 AM

I'm using one of those crap 12 dollar eBay specials and am surprisingly loving it!!! I'm sure it will only last a month or less but at this price its disposable, who cares.. when it does sh!!t the bed I will invest in a real one.. I totally recommend buying one if you're interested in seeing what the hype is all about without potentially wasting a bunch of money....

hellcatmolly · #7 05-16-2011, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErniE

I'm using one of those crap 12 dollar eBay specials and am surprisingly loving it!!! I'm sure it will only last a month or less but at this price its disposable, who cares.. when it does sh!!t the bed I will invest in a real one.. I totally recommend buying one if you're interested in seeing what the hype is all about without potentially wasting a bunch of money....

I too have been interested in rotaries. I initially got one of those cheapo ones from China just to try out, and really liked it til it started smoking on me! So I trashed that one (and fortunately got my massive refund of $12.99). I also tried a Jackhammer - not too impressed with that. Then I found a machine builder who took a swashdrive gen 2 clone, upgraded the motor and retrofitted it with an RCA adapter, and it works like a dream! So now that I'm hooked on rotaries for shading and color, I'm also thinking about upgrading to something even better now, that is similar to what I've been using lately. So I'm with the originial poster - trying to decide what would be the best for me. I'm still using my Mickey Sharpz for lining, so I'm not completely ready to give up coils just yet! It just depends on what I am using it for.

lozer81 · #8 07-01-2011, 10:48 AM

well, how about that swashdrive whip? that seems to be badass, im thinking this may be my next machine now.