I’m liking my Atezr lasers very much. They’ve enabled me to easily do all the “projects” I’ve shown in this and my “easy inlays” thread. I’ve actually purchased three Atezr machines now… the P20 24W generation 1 machine in the first post of this thread, the L2 36W generation 2 machine in post #26 of this thread, and a refurbished P5 5W gen1 machine most recently for engraving ceramic tiles, slate, etc.
Over the past year or two, we’ve seen a rather sudden influx of laser machines using “stacked diode” technology… combining the outputs of 4, 6, and even 8 ~5-6W laser diodes in a single laser module, giving ~24, ~36, and ~48 watts of actual optical output power, resp. As I had previously purchased three of the dual-diode Neje A40640 10W laser modules and fallen in love with what they could do… I had also bumped into their limits. So, about a year ago, when reviews started showing up on the internet of some of these newer machines, the Atezr P20 24W for a time seemed to be garnering a good bit of attention for its robust construction and full Lightburn compatibility… with several respected reviewers even touting it as “commercial duty”. With holiday sales and significant discounts going on at the time, I took the leap… and haven’t regretted it for a moment.
One word of caution: there are some manufacturers – Xtool, in particular – that have chosen to bundle their latest, greatest, and very expensive machines (S1, F1, etc) with their own proprietary software (XCS) and custom firmware. And while they’re currently claiming “Lightburn compatibility” in their advertising… nothing more than the most basic functionality is available in Lightburn. All the more advanced features of their machines can only be exercised using XCS… which most consider far less capable than Lightburn. And their usual response, so far, to requests for help with Lightburn issues is… “well, you should be using XCS”. While their hardware and advanced features seem to be fantastic, locking folks into their proprietary eco-system seems to be their primary goal… and many Lightburn users seem to be regretting their Xtool purchase.
Hope that helps.
– David