I don’t really think you are serious in asking the forum members for laser recommendations. I think you want to vent, so feel free. If you are truly looking to buy a different laser, Google is your friend.
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That is a fare assessment. I am very frustrated but am at the point that I am considering another laser cutter. And venting does help somewhat!
I own four different 3D printers (three are printing as I write this). This gives me some insight into strengths and weaknesses of those printers that someone that has only owned or used a single one of them may not have. I expect some of the glowforge owners also have other laser cutters and could give some insight into what machine they would add if they needed another (or a replacement). Since I only own a glowforge, I thought this would be a better place to ask than with a generic Google search.
As mentioned earlier, there a number of laser FB groups in which this question gets asked regularly. One I belong to is this one.
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Another perspective…
After 18 months with no issues, my machine would not complete “the new” camera calibration, I had multiple attempts. I had relocated things, I added a repeater (the machine is on the other side of the house). I ended up disconnecting every network device. Lights, thermostats - which had to be pulled off the wall with batteries removed, Echos, FireTV, TV, BluRay, washer/dryer, web cams, security system, tablets, phones. It was just the GF, and my laptop on 5.0GHz.
Still failed. Note, I have 1Gbps internet, Speedtest on my laptop is rarely any lower than the bandwidth of the protocol, at around 600Mbps in either direction.
After so much frustration, I plugged in an old crappy wifi router and connected the GF to it - same location -calibration completed first time.
When complete, I unplugged it, switched back to the old router, and everything has run without a hitch ever since, including huge jobs that can take about 2 minutes to process (~13,000-node vector engraves).
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That is impressive. My up load comes nowhere near that.
Whelp. not so good tonite… everyone must be Netflixing…
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I hate it when that happens. 
If you want an easier to use experience, you’re basically restricted to ULS and Epilog, leaning toward Epilog based on your budget.
…anything else and you’re going to end up irritated again for one reason or another.
[edit: I inexplicably failed to say that you will likely want to look at used/rebuilt machines.]
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I think they all have quirks of some kind. I also think the Glowforge is probably the easiest to design for ultimately.
From a production standpoint, which is most of what I do, I’m ultimately liking the local print driver better. Stand at the machine, hit play button on machine, remove board, load new board, hit play button again, etc.
One of the quirks, for example, on the Universal - it doesn’t handle transparency anywhere in the file. A lot of my puzzle files are set up with multiple art boards so that I don’t have to open up multiple files (puzzle template, box cover file, etc.). If anything has transparency anywhere in the file, even if it’s not part of the actual job going to the laser, it will rasterize all of the cut lines. Or, rasterizing a vector for engraving - if you select the transparent background, it will rasterize the cut lines. On some files, I’ve sat there and scratched my head for a half hour on why it’s treating all of my red cut lines (set up correctly) as rasters to engrave.
I think Glowforge honestly nailed the ease of use, and the single box design. Unless you go RF tube, you’re going to need a chiller, or a bucket of water or whatever, then the air compressor (think some of the newer Epilog’s and Trotec’s have a built in compressor now), then the bigger exhaust fan (not going to get by with just a little inline fan that can’t pull any vacuum), etc.
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They’re giving you the color blue for free man, quit your complaining. 
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Thanks for the input and also the private messages. It looks like there are several options available but the price for a replacement is a bit steep (more than 2x Glowforge) and cheap no-name cutters are scary to me.
I did open a thread on the APP problem and received lots of help there. Tech support responded to my emails and it looks like the APP gets quickly bogged down because of my cad software’s DXF files generate a lot of non-connected line segments for circles and arcs. The APP deals with this fine for one, but once you try and replicate it chokes.
The shortest solution to using the APP was to always save as only one instance, load the image and then replicate it manually (which can still take 10 minutes or so) and then print. Before I leave the application I need to delete the duplicates or else it will take 40 minutes to an hour to never just to open.
Yes, I could switch CAD programs, etc, but that is also another investment in time.
Thanks again for your input and I am going to start saving for a future replacement, rather than just tossing the Glowforge in the heat of the moment.
You would likely find that to be a problem in other machines. I had similar issues with my other laser before I stopped using DXF and moved to SVG or PDF for lasering. I would have to delete DXF objects until I got to a point where they would load. The number of segments overwhelmed that software too. DXF is a lowest common denominator file format that has not kept up with advances in computer technology - that’s why SVG knows about circles and arcs and DXF still thinks in terms of tiny line segments that approximate the curve. If you don’t absolutely need DXF, it’s good to switch - even if you continue to design in DXF, saving or exporting the file as SVG will make things work much better whether you’re using the GF or another laser.
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