We upgraded our order from a basic with the air filter to the pro unit (hopefully it will be here soon - just got our starter kit). Do we still need the filter we ordered with the basic or should we cancel it? I had written to the glowforge support email but they didn’t really answer the question so I thought I’d throw this out to those who have had experience with the glowforge…
Thanks!
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Depends. What is your venting situation? I cancelled my filter because I am able to vent directly outside through a hole I cut in an outside wall and my Pro is on a wheeled cabinet.
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If you have a place to vent, aren’t going to move the GF to another location, and don’t mind being tethered to a vent through the 4" hose, I can’t see any reason to want the filter. The filters will not be cheap and must be replaced on an unknown schedule depending on what you cut. Also the filter has fans of its own so will be louder and draw more electricity when running.
Personally if you can vent vs. filter I think it’s a win, win.
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The first filters aren’t scheduled to ship until March, and you’ll probably have some wait after that, so you can literally wait and see what people report before having to decide.
I have found my venting to be perfectly adequate, even with sub-zero temps on the other side of the window. I think the filter will still be really useful in a couple of corner cases, but not nearly as critical as I thought it would be before my unit arrived. My hope is to be able to use the one best suited to the situation by rigging up a little custom venting creation.
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Don’t all Pro orders include the filter? I don’t recall an option for Pro without filter.
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No clue how Support is addressing the issue now. Used to be that you could order a Basic and then upgrade to the Pro without filter. I did. Also you could order the Pro with Basic and have Support manually delete the filter. That may still be the case. Don’t know for sure.
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It’s my understanding you can have the filter deleted from a pro order by contacting support. IIRC the subject was first raised by international owners because of the extreme shipping costs.
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I appealed to Dan back in 9/15 to allow us to drop the filter order (Pro version without air filter?), which he eventually allowed.
Edit: that attention to the wishes of some random customer confirmed my faith in GF and kept me on board for the duration of multiple delays.
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I have a pro, no filter. I originally had the basic, and upgraded to pro towards the end of last year.
I originally thought I would cobble something together, but venting is so simple and not having to worry about changing a filter has me now thinking I’ll just stick with that. Not planning to take my GF anywhere…
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There was no advertised Pro without a Filter, but when you went to order, it was definitely an option.
I ordered a Basic, then two weeks later upgraded to Pro assuming I would have to get the filter too. I was pleasantly surprised I could just select Pro and no filter. (Not so pleasant surprise was the two year wait for a Golden Email from that point).
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I ordered the Pro with filter during the fund-raising month. I figured might as well go all in.
However I am able to vent out a window (using an air conditioner insert) and I’m having a hard time imagining a scenario where I wouldn’t be able to vent with my living space. That has been working very well for me and I really don’t think I’ll need the filter.
If there were some magic way I could convert my filter order into PG shop credit, I’d probably jump at that option…
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Send an email to support and request to cancel the filter and receive a refund.
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I forgot that was you! 
It’s not a common option but we’ve discussed making it a little easier to access.
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I’ll be curious to see whether using the filter produces less odor than venting outside. Logically, sending all the exhaust out of the room seems like it would work better, but as one of the handful of people who seem to have a significant amount of smell leakage and can’t solve it, I’m thinking it’s possible that using the very short u-bend and GF’s custom designed filter will eliminate the mysterious leak. I really don’t need a filter for my setup, but that’s why I’m leaving my order in limbo until some more information becomes available.
Well, they’re probably going to credit your credit card so if it is the same one on file for the store you could effectively nullify the refund with a gloriously large order.
They did it for me.
That’d pay for a good amount of supplies. I can see it now. “Honey, your Proofgrade order is here!”
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