Several years ago when I ordered a Glowforge, I was excited about the possibility of a usable laser at what I thought was a reasonable price. I went to a couple of “go-to” laser sites - Sawmill Creek and CNC Zone - to get more info on this great new product. The derision of GF was long, loud and unanimous. “Vapor ware”, “plastic laser” “you’ll shoot your eye out”. This was pretty much all from Chinese laser owners, not Epilog, Universal, etc. It seemed to me that the K40 owners felt threatened by this new technology application.
I don’t have any idea of whether the Etcher-Laser is/will be the real thing, but they are advertising some interesting features that I wish my GF had. I don’t really care if anyone on this board is critical of the Etcher-Laser since I’m not a part of their company. I do find it somewhat humorous that the same atmosphere I found earlier seems to be repeating itself here.
On a different but related note, this may be the first of several new diode lasers of this type. Next Wave Automation, maker of the Shark and Piranha CNC machines and very credible outfit, is supposed to announce a model very similar to the Etcher Laser early next month. The price will probably be closer to $1500, but on the plus side, it’s supposed to use gcode for control which might make mixed cnc-laser projects a little easier.