Because I searched for a laser cutter, I now get nothing but Glowforge ads on my Youtube videos.
I am assuming you did a bunch of research. What did you find the most quality low budget engraver to be? Basically suggestions for something on the lower end?
Also, did you search for things in the same realm before deciding on the engraver? Just curious about maybe options I am not thinking of.
The Glowforge is what I found to be the most quality low budget laser. They start around $2500. There are a few
really low budget options on Amazon around the $300 mark but can those lasers really cut or engrave something worth your time? I doubt it.
So the only other options I considered were the lasers on ebay which are much larger and more powerful than Glowforge and may even be a little cheaper. But they're also not supported by U.S. personnel which means you get an imported product with half English instructions and no community specifically built around the laser itself.
I didn't really come across any other laser options in the $2500 range that seemed as good as Glowforge in terms of support, ease of use, and community, although it's possible they exist. Community is important because when I didn't know how to do something I just searched the community to see how others did it.
If you search around you'll find all kinds of problems others had with the ebay lasers. Some people ended up satisfied, but what I found was the lasers weren't ready to go out of the box. There was additional tinkering and adjustments that needed to be done to even get the laser engraving properly.
If you're going to spend $1500 on a cheap laser you might as well spend $2500 on something you can set up and use in under an hour. And for me, the slight power boost for the $4k model to save a little extra time during engraves and cutting was worth it.
One last point worth mentioning is that the Glowforge referral program is quite nice. I don't know if you'd get the same kind of referral opportunities with the other lasers. Sure Amazon and Ebay have referral programs, but most people want a GF because it's practically push-button engraving. So GF is an easy sell.