18 Best Laser Cutter For Home (2023 Updated)

I am really happy with my laser cutter. When i discovered an laser cutter at an maker space it was clear i wanted one, but is no small decision so it took a couple of years before I did get one. As i have experience with multiple brands of laser cutters I can make a comparison, but to be honest, i compare it with a machine that will cost tenfold.

Pro’s: – Adorable and price for the machine is all in, no extra costs for the much needed air assist, extra cooling or compressor, mirrors or anything, just a few models with different specs. – Air assist, it’s really essential – Good support by mail – foolproof materials delivered with the machine, have a good quality feel and require no guessing of settings – almost plug and play, just really simple steps, no aligning the mirrors, prindbed.

– the camera is great for canning an using personal messages, also cutting out drawings is nice. Now the cons: Fair cons: – Manual inly digital, not in the packaging – Alignment of the 0 x/y position is a guess / floating somewhere without cutting an ruler to align material to the upper left corner.

because there is no visible laser pointer to align whith manual x / y movement multiple cuts on the same material, camera helps for general but not precise positioning. – Upselling in the webapp want to place some text, draw an line or square, it will cost you a monthly fee.

– lightly pushing to proofgrade material, with no option to select your own material, only proofgrade. You can store your custom setting in al list (which is great) but it feels like giving you an hard time for not purchasing proofgrade materials.

-‘web’app no internet no fun, the laser cannot set to work offline. If in the future the service stops you have an useless product. An local application would be best for my usecase. Not fair con: – It is not that powerful, in comparison with the expensive options.

But for the price it is really no problem. Conclusion: For the price it is an great easy to use device, with good customer service. Upselling is less visible at first, but has an feel of mobile app microtransactions.

As long as the service has no visible end date it is an device with an very good cost/performance ratio.

Awesome little laser — wish there was a version for sewing machines – using it to trace artwork as well as pictographs.

I am still practicing with it. Trying to find the best place to mount it. If it is in the back where it is shown in the directions I cannot use it from the front. Since I am also learning to use the frame/machine process I am sure as I get better this accessory will be more valuable.

If you’re thinking of buying a glowforge DON’T!!! Buy something with better customer service. Something more reliable. And from a company that actually has live phone support for technical issues. They literally only are willing to call you if you want to buy a machine.

That’s it. If they already have your money then you’re screwed. Good luck! I’ve been a faithful customer and even defended this terrible company for almost 3 years. Until yesterday. When my machine broke 110 days after I got it.

I paid them $1200 for this machine. It arrived broken and I sent them emails with pictures saying that I did not want this one I wanted another one because it came damaged. And that I didn’t believe it passed the testing they claimed it did.

It couldn’t have I had proof. They refused to send me a new one and sent me a new part. That machine totally died yesterday and they’re willing to send me a new one for ANOTHER $1200 and I have to send this one back.

I’ve never owned a laser, so I didn’t know what to expect. I use mine mainly to cut leather patterns, and have done some wood designs. When it works flawlessly, its amazing. But, it doesn’t always go smoothly.

Cons: I wish I had saved up for the pass through. I had to shrink all of my designs because I thought it would cut a full 20″ and it doesn’t. The little lense slides down in its house. So after each use i have to stop and take it apart and put it back in correctly.

It’s not a big deal if I was doing a large cut and need to clean it anyway, but this is every time. I have wasted SO much material, time, and money figuring this out. When I try to engrave on something and don’t have the area i want to engrave directly under the camera, its always off center.

For smaller items this is no problem, but for larger items I’ve pretty much given up. I didn’t realize you had to be on the internet for all the design process. I live in the country. Our internet is hit and miss, and this sucks.

Now that I’ve been using it about 3 months and have made most of my designs, I am saving time, but due to the size restrictions I’m having to cut down my materials to fit, and since I can’t depend on the camera to be accurate, I have to overcompensate around the edges to make sure my cut actually ends up on my material.

My orders definitely cost me more money now. Because this wastes material. Maybe this is how it is for all lasers, I dont know. I love the idea. I think its amazing. But, I would expect something that costs so much money to be a little more acurate.

Cuts very well. Very convenient to have the laser guideline. Excellent large latching handle. Large padded feet. However. 1. Be careful when removing the trimmer from the Styrofoam packing. Since the unit is shipped without the latching handle installed, the blade can surprise you by popping out of the Styrofoam block when you first unpack it.

2. You need a #1 Phillips screwdriver to mount the handle with two screws. (Mine was missing one of the two screws from the parts bag, but it works fine. ) 3. Be sure to check alignment of the laser line with the cutting edge.

Mine was parallel but 1/8″ off. If misaligned, use a small blade-type screwdriver to easily adjust the two alignment screws following the tiny, murky photo on the instruction sheet. 4. Requires a #2 Phillips screwdriver to change the 3 AAA batteries, which are included and installed.

5. When using the cutter continuously to make multiple cuts, you need to fully close and latch the blade every minute or so to keep the laser on. (There is a timer that prevents the batteries from running down if the blade is left open – a good feature, but a bit irritating.

) It is a great trimmer once you spend 15 minutes fooling with it. Would have given it five stars if the unit had come assembled and aligned.

This is my second purchase of this item (one personal and one business use), and we love it. The blade is sharp, the laser is accurate, the grid is helpful. Wish that the plastic paper guide could be set to shorter than 4.

5″ for making small cards, but the grid still works in this instance. Also wish that the base was covered so that this could stack on top of other items without tilting. This item is large and difficult to store.

The first thing about paper cutters is that the cutting angle must be square. This is not square. When I tried to make an eyeball adjust, the guard was inefective in holding paper secure. It rumpled and I could not get a clean square cut.

Despite the budget price tag, this cutter exceeds expectations. Both the cutter and the stand are durable and solidly built. The cutter is very accurate and can handle some fine detail, especially when equipped with a 60-degree blade.

I’ve used it to create signs and decals, and I’m impressed with the speed and accuracy of this machine. The stepper motor is a bit noisier than the servo motors in higher-priced gear; comparable to a dot matrix printer (for those old enough to remember those).

If you have a dedicated workspace, you can run this machine all day behind closed doors without disrupting your office or household. The VinylMaster Cut software is fairly simple and intuitive. Some of the controls behave a little differently than those in popular design programs, but most people will not be designing in VinylMaster anyway.

As a rip software, it functions perfectly well. I do recommend watching US Cutter’s instructional videos to learn quickly how to access some of VinylMaster’s more important functions. One small criticism about the design: the power cord and the USB cable are on opposite sides of the machine.

So if you work in a small space as I do, you may find yourself “trapped” between two cables. It’s a minor inconvenience, nothing an extension cord can’t solve. All in all, the SC2 is an excellent value for the money, and a great option for the small business owner or serious hobbyist.

I love this cutter! started a vinyl business exactly 1 year ago with this cutter. this thing is a workhorse. i had no clue what i was doing, i learned it all along the way. the only issue i had with it was the cutting strip had to be replaced due to it getting real cut up, but honestly it was my own fault while i was learning adjusting pressures, the roll would off track or spit out of the machine.

agian my problem not the machines, but the new strip was cheap and super easy to install. the vinyl master software it pretty user friendly for the most part. plenty of support and tutorials that come along with it to learn off of.

and it popularity brings lots of you tube instruction as well. only gripe with the software is it can act ‘buggy’ at times especially while vectorizing. ive cut almost everything with this SC2. 651 is my go to but also, HTV, flat, chrome/gold, perforated vinyl, etched glass vinyl, tint.

and one of my big sellers, Reflective! YES, REFLECTIVE!! even though they say it doesnt cut reflective, pfffft!! IT DOES! AND IT DOES IT WELL with a 60 degree blade. ive even got it to cut rolled magnet material, well scored it heavily where i cas able to bend it back and forth to break it free from the roll.

all and all, 1 year, 1200 cuts later and this thing just wont quit! my business has grown faster than i ever imagined with this machine to the point i think i need to upgrade to a printer/cutter. but this SC2 will always be my tried and true reliable workhorse!!.

The positives about this machine are few. The price was right and it cuts by 20″ material. That’s about it. I decided to upgrade from a Silhouette after getting sick of cutting down my 20″ HTV into 12″ x 20″ sheets.

Having a machine that accommodates a 20″ roll has definitely saved me time, but I’m starting to wonder if the headaches are worth it. The amount of mis-cuts this machines causes + the amount of material it trashes because of said mis-cuts is infuriating.

It will cut random lines, random patterns, half cut a graphic then cut a random shape over it, etc. I never try to cut more than 24″ in length due to reading about other’s issues with the motherboard and memory.

I also never cut jobs that are too intricate. I have tried connecting with both the USB and the Serial Cable. The only thing I can think of is that the machine isn’t actually MAC compatible as I was told it was (I talked with customer support before purchasing).

Someone will probably respond back to this saying it’s user error. I can ensure you it’s not (I work in the sign industry as a production designer, and regularly produce graphics using industry standard machines – Mimaki, Graphtec, HP, Colex, Epson etc).

I would have loved to get a reliable machine, like a Graphtec or Mimaki, but unfortunately, my small, home-based side business doesn’t generate enough revenue to support that large of a purchase. Let’s just say.

you definitely get what you pay for.

I love my Glowforge and I love what I believe it is capable of creating, however there is a definite learning curve. I do not feel there is enough training directly from Glowforge, particularly in regards to the settings.

It would be fantastic to be able to use Proofgrade materials and never have to worry about the settings, however the Proofgrade materials are on the higher end in pricing and more importantly, they are almost always sold out, out of stock, and unavailable for use.

Purchasing materials through other vendors has only caused more issues in regards to settings. Although I’ve read completely through the manual, community forums, and the online help center, I still feel that most of the training or information I have received is through watching Youtube videos.

I’d prefer to learn from Glowforge directly, what is provided I feel is vague and could definitely be improved. I just hate practicing and wasting materials and money while trying to figure things out.

This is my first experience with any product of this sort and from what I read, GF is quite easy compared to others so I am very happy with my choice. What I have created, I love. I am also very happy with my premium subscription and the tools available through the GF print software! Overall, I am happy with my purchase and look forward to learning more so that I can use it to its full potential and proceed with creating a business I love!.

This thing is amazing. I absolutely love it. It does get dirty quick and needs to be clean and maintained. Alcohol wipes are best for cleaning as the alcohol cleans everything well and evaporates leaving no moisture.

A can of air for hard to reach places and electrical components. I had mine for a couple months now. I’m only worried I will need a new filter cartridge already though and they are expensive. So as a new buyer, venting out the window would be a far far far cheaper option than replacing the filter in the long run.

Also there isn’t any way to tell if the filter is done or not. I don’t like they way you have to turn on the filter. A design that automates that would be much better.

We bought the Glowforge Pro to get our feet wet and to bring R&D and some of our business production in-house. My opinion is it’s a good entry-level or hobby laser. The interface is easy to use and get started.

The user controls are intuitive, so it’s easy to learn. The results are beautiful and professional. The laser isn’t super powerful (even the Pro), which we knew going in, so engraving is quite slow – too slow for a serious business to make a profit at the amount of time it takes to engrave.

Cutting is reasonably fast, though. I gave a 3 star review for two reasons. 1) We’ve been disappointed that there isn’t more control with positioning materials on the bed and getting the laser to print exactly where it needs to.

Sometimes the laser prints as much as 1/4″ away from where you intend it to cut. Even when we put the materials in the exact same spot and put the art in the same spot, the results can vary. This has resulted in a lot of wasted materials over time.

2) We’ve also been disappointed with the customer service when something is wrong with the laser. We’ve had the laser under a year and have already had to contact customer service twice for issues. The customer service is all email – no phone.

And it sometimes takes several days for Glowforge to return emails. It’s frustrating when you’re trying to trouble shoot and have business orders stacking up and can’t get a quick response. We had to send our laser back at one point for a repair that we couldn’t do here, and our business was down for over a week.

It would have been down longer if I hadn’t contacted them and insisted they send a new laser instead of waiting even longer for a refurbished one to be ready. I’d say this isn’t the laser to run a serious business with because the precision of the laser and the customer support aren’t up to par for professionals.

This cutter works fine for a reasonable price if you’re not using it constantly, although I don’t believe ours would work for up to 10 sheets at a time as advertised. It seemed like it really dulled recently after we used it for cutting not all that much cardstock, but the cuts on standard copy/print paper have always been pretty crisp and easy.

I wish you could purchase a replacement blade, but it looks like it’ll be easy enough to remove the one on there and we’re planning to have it sharpened by the knife man. It is light weight and easy to move around to different workspaces.

Probably fine for something like scrapbooking or card-making, but this didn’t work for me. I sell art prints and need a cutter that can cut very precisely for trimming up my work (generally a couple centimeters off the edges).

This cutter constantly shifts my prints as I’m cutting, so it’s like the top of the print is cut where I want, but by the time the blade reaches the bottom, the blade isn’t even on the print anymore.

I can’t hold the paper down firmly enough. Never had this issue on my other paper cutter. Will be returning.

When I received this trimmer I was expecting it to be made with a heavy duty plastic, but it feels cheap and flimsy. Additionally, nothing in the description is accurate in my opinion, except for the fact that there’s a latch to hold the blade closed, and that should have a disclaimer because it tries my patience trying to unlatch it every time.

Not to mention that it barely cuts 5 sheets at once and no matter what I try I cannot get it to cut a single sheet straight. Overall, for what I spent I’m not impressed and definitely don’t recommend it.