GlowforgePro Laser Cutter and Engraver Machine with 45W CO2 Laser - Ultimate Power Laser Engraver with Cooling for Fast Laser Engraving on Wood, Leather, Metal, and Stone

I received my Glowforge on time and it was well packed with some external damage to the box but everything inside was perfect. The setup was straight forward and I was able to print the good measure test key chain within about 15 minutes of removing the Glowforge from its box and putting it on its stand. So far I have made several things with my Glowforge and each project has turned out as expected and I’m quite pleased with the quality of the results. Laser technology gives very professional results with no saw dust! Yay!Included with my Glowforge was a selection of materials, (Glowforge calls them proof grade) which will get you started. I have since ordered some 3mm Baltic birch plywood from Amazon and it is working well for me using the maple plywood proof grade settings. The advantages of buying proof grade materials from Glowforge is its guaranteed to work well with your laser cutter and the settings are automatically selected for you via a quick code decal read by the camera. I recommend proof grade materials when first starting, but you can use your own materials which is what I do. As long as you stay within reasonable parameters you’ll have a pleasant cutting experience with other materials.The web based software has worked well for me and I have not experienced any crashes or print failures as a result of the software. You will need a reliable internet connection.Some people, including myself have complained about the lack of a fully implemented customer support system. As of right now, support is limited to email and the user forum. I have dabbled in the forum a little and for the most part have found the other users to be friendly and helpful. The user forum appears to be actively used and there is a wealth of information. I recently had an email conversation with a marketing manager from Glowforge who assured me, customer service is important to their company and this is something they will have fixed soon. Fortunately, I have experienced zero problems with my Glowforge and I’m almost at the point where I can say, I have full confidence in the product. I’m sure I’ll get there.As for the build of the product it feels very solid and has a premium look and feel to the construction and presentation. Nothing about it feels cheap, loose or as if it will easily break. The Glowforge plus, the model I have is sold as a consumer hobby grade laser cutter, but I see no reason why a small business couldn’t use it in a professional capacity as long as you weren’t running it all day everyday. That might be asking too much of it, but for regular one off customer jobs, I think it would be fine.Things to consider. 1 price. I don’t care how much or little money you have $4,300 including tax is expensive. You could buy a top of the line, take your pick of brand, washer and dryer for considerably less money. 2 size. This laser, while not huge, is going to need its own dedicated table or stand. 3 noise. I would say it’s louder than I was expecting about as loud as our vacuum cleaner. 4 smell. There is going to be odors from the cutting process and of course you definitely need a way to vent the smoke and fumes created by the Glowforge. Is it excessive? No, not enough to concern me, but I have a funny story. I live in a detached home with the typical track home distance between my house and my neighbors. The first time I used my Glowforge to cut anything, I suddenly got a text message from my neighbor checking to see if everything was okay because he smelled a funny odor and saw strange smoke coming from our house. I was worried at that point if I was going to have issues with my Glowforge use bothering my neighbor. Not something I want to do and it was disheartening after laying out all this money for my Glowforge and seemed I was having issues already. But turned out okay and he assured me it was fine he was just concerned. I made him and his wife a personalized Christmas tree ornament and he’s been happy ever since. So yeh, there’s gonna be smells. Plywood smells like a campfire, leather, I find is the worst and to me smells like burnt hair. I’ve been told acrylic smells awful, but I don’t have any experience with that so far.Overall I’ve been very happy with my Glowforge and knowing what I know now about it, yes, I would still buy it again. This of course all depends on how well the product holds up over time. It comes with a one year warranty for the pro and plus model. I bought the square trade 3 year extended warranty because it was only an extra $44 so why not. One last thing to note, when you get your Glowforge be sure to save all boxes and packaging materials. Glowforge will need to be repacked if you need to send it off to be repaired and the company charges $250 for a set of replacement boxes and packing materials. Yes, you read that right.So if you do decide to buy your own Glowforge, I think you’ll be just thrilled with it and you’ll hopefully have a pleasant buying experience as I did. I’m glad to see the Glowforge is now available to buy on Amazon. I’ll update this review if there are any issues or unexpected circumstances that change my opinion of this wonderful laser cutter. Thanks for reading.

This entire company is one misleading thing after another. You are required to use a web based app that connects your device remotely to their system. On a basic level that is just a privacy and security concern. Without an internet connection you have $6000 paperweight. This is not advertised or even mentioned in any materials I have seen. It’s not compatible with third party software like lightburn. They do not have an “app” that you can use without going to their website. Which means anything you upload is available to them. I am just not okay with only finding this out after I spent a ton of money to get this laser. If it was an app from inside my own network it would be fine. There is no reason this should work like this other than as a means of accessing your network. I have what equates to a $6000 coffee table now. I didn’t open it until it was past its return date. Called tech support and they have no way to correct the issue. Buyer beware. If you are running a business or just want a secure network. Do not buy this device. It’s useless.

The hardest part about setting this up was taking it out of the box. I was up and printing in 30 minutes. It would have been less but the dog needed to go for a walk.I've wanted a laser printer/engraver for a long time and have looked at various models, price ranges, etc....Are there cheaper units out there, sure are....do other machines have a larger work area....yep.....are they as easy to setup as the Glowforge, not in my opinion.After doing a lot of reading a browsing different websites, it was getting tiring. If I buy a bigger, cheaper machine, I'd save some money but then I need to align the machine (on a routine basis), remove the cheap interface boards that come with it....upgrade other parts, get the software, learn the software....the list goes on and on.I'm a technical person and I don't have trouble putting things together...I just built a 3D printer (not laser cutter/engraver) from a kit in a single day....the problem was, I didn't want to buy some machine from overseas just to basically revamp it in order to cut some cool stuff.If you need a larger machine, buy it....this machine works great for my needs.Is it easy for the average person to use, without a doubt. Upload your project, align it on the material through their web app and hit the glowing print button....done.A few things to remember, check the materials list of what it can cut/engrave...there are some materials it can't and some materials that will give off some bad fumes. I have mine in the garage and I installed a dry vent tube in the wall to vent it outside.Which brings me to my next point, I did take a star off...if I could, I'd give it 4.5 stars but it won't let me.....operating temperatures of the machine. As I mentioned, I have mine in the garage.....problem is, I live in Florida.....in the summer time, my garage gets pretty hot when the doors are closed. The machine has some safety temp monitors built in...anything over 87-90 degrees, I can't use it. Partly my fault, they do list this information but it's not jumping out at you. In my haste to buy this unit, I failed to research it thoroughly.For the time being, I try to cut/engrave early in the morning so it's not a problem. I also open the garage doors in the early afternoon and use a fan which helps. I'm in the process of hooking up a portable AC that I have so that won't be a problem much longer.Bottom line, if you're looking to create some cool items, don't plan on using it as an industrial machine and want to be up and cutting in under an hour, this is the machine for you.