The thing that really kills HAAS for me is that the nearest HAAS service center (or whatever the place is called) is +- an 8 hour drive away, so any services that have to be performed by a factory authorized tech START at about $1500, before any work is actually done.

My buddies in Midland who run several machines have had HAAS in the past, and 1 currently. Several have recounted a $2k bill for what amounted to 5 minutes with a connected laptop. Enough so that for me haas is an absolute no-go.

I've been almost agonizing over a used Tormach 1100 vs a used X7... For $10k, one can find an 1100 w/a decent amount of tooling and extras- sometimes a 4th axis even. But as soon as one starts looking at new, I honestly think the 1100 and the X7 are outshined by the VM2.

Prototrak (not the VM2 or 2OP, to be completely honest, but one of their full-sized machines) seems to treat service differently. They have a local tech, which makes all the difference, imho.

My current shop (the back of my garage) simply doesn't have enough room for a full-sized VMC. I'm kinda relegated to a relatively small footprint.