Boss, Thunder, Muse, Glowforge, Dremel, OH MY! Need help choosing a laser!

Hoping to get into the laser game ASAP. Trying to decide between lasers like the Boss LS1416, glowforge, Muse, Thunder Mini, Dremel, etc. I’d like a laser that lets me engage in hobby activities, but will hopefully lead to a small business opportunity in the future. I really like what I’ve seen from Boss and Thunder. Any help or advice is much appreciated!

Both nice systems. Might also look at the Laguna Laser as well. Glowforge and Muse are proprietary, closed systems, worth taking into account for expansion and options. You have to use their stuff and neither work with LightBurn if you plan to use our software. :wink:

If you have any hope of running a business stay away from Glowforge. They have a very high failure rate and the Internet-only design approach can cause problems. Lots of other issues as well.

I’ve had a Thunder Laser Nova 24-60 for 3+ years and it is still going strong. It only see light use but has survived 3 summers and winters in our suburban Chicago garage. Thunder Laser USA provides very responsive US-based support, which can be important if there are any issues. Their prices include shipping, all of critical accessories that you need spare parts, spare mirrors and lens, refrigerated chiller (for all but the Mini model), exhaust blower, air assist pump and a dual air assist system that lets you choose high or low air assist flow rates for each cutting or engraving operation during the job setup, They also have a pretty extensive web site with tutorials and how-tos and an active YouTube channel. Plus Lightburn is included with the purchase.
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I agree, Stay away from Glowforge, I own one and I do like it but don’t expect any real support from any where except the user form. Their support for any problems is terrible. They don’t even respond to your issue for days. You can’t get parts except from Glowforge and it takes forever, so if you are looking to run a Business from it forget it. I purchased a second laser a cheap Chinese 60W on eBay and love it. All the parts are accessible for easy replacement. Don’t expect alot of support from them either, but at least you can fix it yourself rather that waiting for a month turn around (minimum) from Glowforge. Also Glowforge is cloud based only so you are stuck with waht ever they decide to give you for software. If you have a really good internet service you may be ok but I hate being tied to the cloud in order to be able to work.