First I want to say thanks for the email notifying us of the speed upgrades and precision that’s great…
I am wondering though why the Plus was not upgraded to same speed as the Pro when they both have the same 45W CO2 laser tube. Yes some will say its obvious with price… well no because the comparisons have always been the same between the two with the biggest difference being the pass through for the Pro.
The plus has the larger laser of the pro, but not everything else is the same. the difference of the pass through alone does not justify the price difference. That all have been restrained til the software catches up, it is becoming obvious that the pro was restrained the most.
I bit the bullet and bought the pro from the first as I presumed that the basic (the only other available at that time) was maimed a bit to get the price difference.
What else is different? The both have the same 45W CO2 laser tube - does not the tube provide the power for the machine? I might be wrong here… I am assuming?
Not having a Plus I am not sure but between the extra water cooling system, and all the the parts I could not know or name I presume there is a lot. You are among the lucky few who got the 45w Laser as future production will not have that.
This makes sense, although it’s still speculation on our part. Future Plus models will only be 40W so they might be setting up the speed coding in the software for the future abilities. There will apparently be a discernible speed difference between the Plus and the Pro in the future.
But I believe these are new specs not the old specs… I got my machine in September…
And that would make sense for future models but not if you already have a 45W… the speeds should be the same…
That is possible. I bought my machine in August of last year and I believe I remember incremental differences in all three models.
You also need to account for the motors. Not an expert but if the pro has bigger faster motors then it will go faster. Especially with engraving - you are not using 100% of the power of the tube but you could be using 100% speed of the motors. The combination of the high power tube and the faster motors would give you a speed multiplier because the faster you go the more power you need to achieve the same result. You can even play with this on the same machine when doing engraves. More power + higher speed = faster engrave. Less power + lower speed = slower engrave.
Yes the difference is huge from the Basic to the Pro but the Plus is almost the same as the Pro with have a few advance features…
I wouldn’t call the differences huge… It doesn’t have the enhanced cooling which makes a huge difference…
Even if the hardware was identical (it isn’t), there are many companies that charge more for advanced features on the same hardware.
Whether you agree with it or not, it’s very common. You pay more for a better product.
edit: by way of example, if you want autopilot on your Tesla, you pay $5,000. You can add that at any time after the initial purchase, then it is enabled in software.
So … no one said I did not say the hardware is identical I said that the laser is the same wattage as the Pro.
In additional don’t come gas lighting me or anyone else comparing other products. I did not do that and I didn’t ask for a comparison. I am specifically speaking to the email received from Glowforge regarding speed upgrades that am asking about.
I specifically asked why is not the speed the same if they both have 45WCO2… I don’t care about Teslas as I don’t drive one and never will … stay on topic!
Ok I can some what accept that answer; I had not put the motor into consideration as its not outlined in the specs. I used my question based on the Laser tube power in which I have the plus and its 45W…
Thanks for writing! Our team hasn’t shared the engineering decisions that went into the new configurations, but I’ll make sure they know there was interest in learning more.