[ELaser]

To clarify, by domestic I mean one manufacturered in the US or Europe. Trotec, Epilog, Universal. Chinese lasers sold in the USA/UK are still Chinese lasers. Chinese lasers are work fine and cheaper but have more maintenance and less capabilities when engraving.

I disagree on the glass vs metal/ceramic tubes. I'm not sure even what data you are basing this on, there is no data out there that would say a glass tube would consistently beat a meat/ceramic tube. Unless it's published by the glass tube manufacturers lol! Metal/ceramic last longer, have less malfunctions, provide a more reliable beam, and do not have to be cooled by water.

Also disagree on the proprietary software, Trotec proprietary software is the industry leader, far above the Chinese lasercut stuff. eLaser says avoid proprietary software because all the chinese machines use a few basic programs, this is NOT an advantage however. They work ok but lack some of the nice features of US/Europe manufacturers software like direct printing from illustrator/corel (some Chinese software prints from certain versions of Corel but not all).

One thing I do agree with on elaser's assessment is Chinese lasers are much less expensive. That is an advantage in their court.

Read sam's laser faq if you like.

opinions are one thing, facts are another.

DC excited glass tubes have a different manufacturing cost base to RF excited metal / ceramic cavities.

DC excited glass tubes produce a different beam type to RF excited metal / ceramic cavities.

Nota Bene, I am staying well away from a pissing contest about which is "better", I state different, which they are.

When it comes to OPINION then I am of the opinion that DC excited cuts acrylic far better than RF excited, that is my opinion.

Your statement on the software IS however an opinion.

Trotec, which you apparently love, are like Epilog and Apple, they come with walled garden software that does everything you want to do, and if they do not do a thing, then you do not want to do it citizen.

It may well please YOU to use software that treats your laser like a printer that you send a pdf to, and it may well please you to claim that this ability makes trotec software superior to alternatives that do not, however this is just an opinion.

Some of the absolute worst design files I have been sent have been sent to me in adobe illustrator or pdf, incidentally from people with trotecs and synrads that were NOT working, so they end up sending them to a guy with an inferior DC exited glass tube laser, a guy who then has to use rhino etc to re-do their files so they actually work, delete all the doubled lines, join all the unjoined stuff, correct the end nodes, etc etc.

"Software" for a laser does not begin and end with the bundle supplied with the machine, which should be control software and no more.

Design should be done in proper / suitable / appropriate software, and again what constitutes this is personal opinion, mine is rhino is best for dxf's, and dxf's are best for design files for a laser, not least because they are universal, this bit can be exported to the cnc mill, this bit can be exported to the plasma, this bit exported to the laser, and all the produced parts just work together.

Not trying to get into a flame war, just trying to clarify my opinions on such things as proprietary software, what is laser software, DC vs RF, etc etc.

It's a LOT easier to pay off a 12k chinese copy of a 50k trotec, where the biggest differences (same us made lenses, slides, rails, etc) are DC excited glass tube vs proprietary and patented ceramic RF cavity and proprietary software, than it is to pay off a 50k trotec....

It's also a LOT easier to repair a non proprietary machine, Reci will sell ANYONE a 150 watt tube, etc etc etc.