I chose the Royal! I have researched. I've seen it in use at 2 of my local yarn shops. It was he who was used by all kEwL kiDz. It was easy. Then I saw it. Almost universal love for this thing? How could that happen? It wasn't royal! It looks so-so INDUSTRIAL. The decisive factor was that much larger cakes could be made from it. Not that I need it, but it would be nice if I could wrap a really big yarn cake. So, after much deliberation, my wife and I decided to give it a go. From the pictures I realized that this is not a pretty winder. But when I took it out of the box I wasn't prepared for the seriousness of this machine. That's a real beast! It's not heavy, but solid! After the apocalypse, only roaches, Twinkie's remains and this thing will remain on earth! I pinned him against the table and felt the need to put on goggles, a hard hat, and steel-toed boots. Recently I was in my LYS and had a strand wrapped around me. I saw them using their Royal and now it seemed like a toy to me. It has a different winding procedure than the Royal. He has an arm that rotates around the "core". You'll end up with a nice, smooth cake that's slightly larger than the royal. I am very happy with the results. Two tips for use: 1) You must be sure that there is no real tension between the strand/scissors and the shoulder it is wound on. I think that a turning movement can lead to an increase in voltage. For me, it's about pulling the string when she stops. My wife and I are doing the surgery together just because we can. If we had a swift, I don't think that would be a problem. (Right now we only spool from skeins. Until we get a Swift we will LYS wrap all the skeins we buy.) 2) Since the end of the yarn will go beyond the support arm, you need to be careful. If you continue winding, the end of the thread may get caught in the gears. Nothing wrong with that, but why not prevent it by stopping a few inches. I don't see this ever happening in real life, but I see the possibility of someone actually winding and tangling the twine around the gears. (This man deserved what he got for his inattention!) In summary, Royal is probably a fine device - I won't downplay it. But for the same money you can own this beast. You will have a REALLY STRONG roll giving you the ability to roll in a much bigger ball if needed. July 2016 Edit to add: I have purchased Swift since posting this review. I'm doing great with Swift. Tension never seems to be an issue. (This assumes the skein is wrapped correctly. I've come across a couple that got tangled because the yarn in the skein was wrapped around itself.) A bit heavy on the choke, the Swift can go insane. It's a lot of fun watching the swift spin around in circles until the moment the swift starts to disassemble itself. (I think this is more of a fault in operator speed and/or enthusiasm,
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