I just bought the Laguna IQ. $6500 thereabouts gets you a machine with a water cooled spindle (very quiet) and a dedicated controller (no PC or windows to deal with) Mine included VCarve Pro. It came shipped in a very nice crate, and is super easy to use, I was able to figure out Vcarve pro, create a sign with multiple profiles, output the GCode for the supported post procerssor, and making saw dust in about an hour. Solid cast iron base (500 lbs) ballscrews on all axis's and over all well built.
Only issue was the controller box. When I stodd it up I heard a clunck inside. When I opened it, the Z amplifier was not mounted, and the fit and finish on the box was less than ideal, purely cosmetic, but ticked me off a bit since I was expecting a shiny new machine. The company made it right with me by giving me a dust collector. Overall it works great, comes with a set of MDF spoil boards ( just need to figure out how to fly cut it) which can be easily replaced when they're shot.
I really do like the dedicated controller concept, just output your Gcode (via pre-processor in VCarve) to a thumb drive and then insert it into the hand controller. I work in comfort in the office, and no PC in the shop. So far works great. I also like the auto tool touch off, very easy to use.
Last edited by Bruce Page; 10-31-2012 at 10:12 PM.
Ernie Martinez
Ocala Florida
Epilog Mini 24 50W
Windows 7 Corel X6, PhotoLaser +v9
Laguna IQ CNC Router
Vectric Vcarve Pro
Smithy Granite 1324 Mill/Drill/Lathe
Grizzly GO621X Bandsaw