VF2-SS is that a bad choice of machine??

We were looking to close a deal on a use 2005 VF-2SS on Mon. After reading all the crap on them, not sure if I want one now. Sounds like they have issues galore. If you have an SS, please chime in and let me know the limits of these machines. We would like to ball nose at 500ipm and profile at 200ipm. Is that too fast for these machines?? WTH would they build it fast for if it cannot do it accurately? Man, I am bumbed now. Will those spindles last a long time with the high rpms?

Is there anything good about them?

the question is do you need the speed
do you need the rapids
do you do alot of tool changes
what are you making
how experianced is the operator
ask your self these questions and you will get the answer
i have 5 machines not all haas and i have had problems with all of them
get the machine you need and hope nothing goes wrong
my vf2ss has given me less problems then the other ones and i love it
it eats alumin but sometimes has problems with hard steel not often
spindle makes noise sometimes but has yet to explode

what options are you getting with it

Our primary use for the mill is soft stuff like Aluminum. I am sure we will get into stainless and such with it. We are currently using a 97 VF2 with the 20HP but with a gear box so I gues as long as it can compete with it in terms of power for the lower rpms, we should be ok.

I have heard some horror stories about the newer Haas' in the surface finish area. I guess as long as we can program around the problem areas, it might work but honestly, I am wondering now if there is a better options out there in the price range.

Yes, of course we need faster! Faster is always good and we really need to pull cycle times down. We are small and need time for other things.

Options are the basic auger, p-cool, quick code. The explanation of some of the options sucks so I am not even sure what "high speed machining" even is. Most of our work is simple profile cuts so a simple increase in rpm would give us close to double the feeds.

Do these machines have repeatability issues, finish issues, or up time issues I need to know about? I guess none of them are ever perfect.

I've been running Haas VF-2SS for 5 years now. I can't say i've every run any other machine, but I really like it. We run mostly 7075 alum. but it can also push feedmills pretty fast through stainless. It can hold .0002 all day long with the correct tools. I have yet to max out the spindle load running steel and not break a tool, so there is enough HP.