Boss Laser or FSL ( full spectrum laser )

[Ron Ross]

Im in the market and was told this is the right place to come and get opinions / advice on which company to go with. Im in the $5k price range and plan to use the laser to engrave, and cut leather as well as engrave Delrin to make leather stamps. I've narrowed my search to either the Boss LS-1416 or the FSL 5th gen.Although, I'm heavily leaning more towards the Boss only because I've hear horrible reviews about the Tech support at FSL and I've read great things about Boss tech support. The bonus to me is that Boss is only an hour away which means tech support / repairs are only an hour away too. I stopped by Boss the other day and they gave me a demo of one of their machines which was very nice. I plan to go with the 60w uprade and the Engravelab v9 uprgrade. Im staying with everything else that comes standard to stay under my budget.

So, my questions are -

1. For those of you who have or have had a FSL or Boss laser, what did you like or dislike about the machines and or the company itself?

2. Is Boss the better choice? or is FSL the better choice?

3. Am I wrong about the FSL tech support? Is it better than what im being lead to believe?


thanks
RR

[Michele Welch]

Hi there! I'm not familiar with the Boss laser products/tech support, but I've had a FSL 5th gen for about a year and a few months. While I had several questions and a few problems in the beginning, their tech support was pretty good. Not great by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a great way to build my patience I never had to wait longer than just a few hours for answers. If it was something more technical that I had to try different things they asked of me, they responded back either via email or phone pretty quickly. One downside was if something went wrong I would have had to ship the part to them, they would test it and then either repair or ship me a new one. This would put you out of commission for as long as that took.

I'm moving up to a new laser in January and decided on Rabbit Laser. They are higher than your price range, but I'm able to get a much bigger machine with great service from Ray and Carol. Good luck on your decision. There's been some great threads/comments on Boss.

[gary l roberts]

I also have a 60 watt pro FSL, moved up to an epilog. I had both good and poor luck with the machine and tec support. One issue I just discovered is there is a $300.00 software transfer fee if I go to sell the FSL. Seemed REALLY high to me and UN-neccessary add on and just sort of a poke in the eye for a loyal customer.

[Dave Sheldrake]

The FSL machine is a cheap Chinese laser with a homebrew card in it. Few people who swear by them have ever used anything else.....in the land of the blind a one eyed man is king.

Boss is just another Chinese laser and not really any different to the 50 or so other types of Chinese laser.

Lets go through a Boss advert for an example and from that you can make an informed choice.

Boss LS1630 60 watt

90W Power +$1,750.00

Thats a $600 tube and a $250 power supply, if fitted at the factory that may not sound bad but back in the real world the stuff that is coming out has a price of $400 tube $180 power supply. So $680 worth of stuff is coming out,with $850 going in so a net difference of about $200 (give or take) that is being charged at $1,750

1.5" +$220.00

If that's a genuine II-VI InfraRed or an RMI lens that's about the right price, an equivalent Chinese made lens from the II-VI factory over there is $40

Free Upgrade! CW-3000

The CW3000 has a sticker on the back of it saying "Not for use with lasers over 50 watts" it's NOT a chiller, it's a box that blows room temperature air over a few pipes that the water runs through.

Chuck Rotary +$797.00
Roller Rotary +$797.00

$200 each from China, I have numbers of both and they are close to boat anchors, never used them in all the years I have had lasers. Great if you know somebody with a load of wine bottles they want engraved I guess.

Quality, high precision components at an affordable price.

Think of the engineers old adage, Cheap/Fast/Accurate pick any two....

Don't get me wrong, they are probably very nice machines (they are manufactured by G Weike) but they are no different to any other Chinese made laser and suffer the same problems as all of them do (and believe me, I love Chinese lasers)

I won't bother looking at the FSL, simply put if you buy one of those you need help well beyond what I can provide...I was given one free ages ago....it went straight in the skip.

cheers

Dave

ps: Good extraction is needed when laser cutting delrin, it gives off a LOT of formaldehyde gas when heated above 220c

[Bert Kemp]

If my only 2 choices were boss and fsl and I lived an hr from one or the other I'd go with Boss. I had an FSL and had nothing but trouble with it and got nothing but rude and sarcastic people at FSL who did virtually nothing to help me.
You do have a few other choices to, Rabbit Laser in Ohio is a great machine and Ray Scott gives awesome support. You also have Automation Technology , I've heard they have pretty good machines and support.
Its a pretty well know fact that no matter what you buy your gonna need support from time to time even with the expensive "BIG 3" just reading thru this forum and you will see that non are trouble free. So good support is a main issue and if you rated all the laser companies on a scale from 1 to 10 on Support FSL would be -12 and all the rest would be above 5
.

[Clark Pace]

I've run 3 Universal lasers and 5 different china lasers. A of them different brands.

My universal was great. No complaints.

Out of the 4 brands of china lasers I have used my Redsail is my favorite. Generally been rock solid. Support has bee descent. I don't see many of you having the Redsail brand.

If you can't afford a US laser or it's for a hobby and are on a limited budget, I'll give 2 thumbs up for the redsail brand. P.S. I do run my redail for my business.

China lasers: Gweike, Hamana, Shenui, and Redsail.

The FSL machine is a cheap Chinese laser with a homebrew card in it. Few people who swear by them have ever used anything else.....in the land of the blind a one eyed man is king.

Boss is just another Chinese laser and not really any different to the 50 or so other types of Chinese laser.

Lets go through a Boss advert for an example and from that you can make an informed choice.

Boss LS1630 60 watt



Thats a $600 tube and a $250 power supply, if fitted at the factory that may not sound bad but back in the real world the stuff that is coming out has a price of $400 tube $180 power supply. So $680 worth of stuff is coming out,with $850 going in so a net difference of about $200 (give or take) that is being charged at $1,750



If that's a genuine II-VI InfraRed or an RMI lens that's about the right price, an equivalent Chinese made lens from the II-VI factory over there is $40



The CW3000 has a sticker on the back of it saying "Not for use with lasers over 50 watts" it's NOT a chiller, it's a box that blows room temperature air over a few pipes that the water runs through.



$200 each from China, I have numbers of both and they are close to boat anchors, never used them in all the years I have had lasers. Great if you know somebody with a load of wine bottles they want engraved I guess.



Think of the engineers old adage, Cheap/Fast/Accurate pick any two....

Don't get me wrong, they are probably very nice machines (they are manufactured by G Weike) but they are no different to any other Chinese made laser and suffer the same problems as all of them do (and believe me, I love Chinese lasers)

I won't bother looking at the FSL, simply put if you buy one of those you need help well beyond what I can provide...I was given one free ages ago....it went straight in the skip.

cheers

Dave

ps: Good extraction is needed when laser cutting delrin, it gives off a LOT of formaldehyde gas when heated above 220c

[Ed Bath]

I purchased a 60 watt Boss LS-1630 this summer. As a novice, I knew that I would need a lot of support to get started.

All of the people at Boss Laser have been exceptional to work with. They have helped me through my initial learning curve with patience and courtesy.

If you're new to engraving, I would recommend paying the extra money (versus buying directly from China) to get good support. Especially if the laser will be used in a business.

I might purchase my next laser directly to save some money, but the service from Boss has been so good that I just might buy from them again.


Ed

[Brian J Jenkins]

Kinda glad I found this. I started looking at the Chinese lasers, then found FSL and really liked the idea of the hobby laser to get into laser engraving. But this thread is steering me away from them...

[Bert Kemp]

nO ONE HERE CAN TELL WHAT TO OR NOT TO BUY, but what we can do is give good advice as to what to buy or not to buy. JUst read the forum do a search on the machines that interest you and you'll get a good Idea of which machine to stay away from. Now which machine to buy is a little harder of a question to answer. What is your main goal for buying a laser Business or hobby, what are you gonna do with it , cut or engrave or both, how big a bed do you need, how much power do you need, what your budget that will dictate size and power.So now you know what not to buy you just have to answer all the questions so tou can figure out what to buy

Kinda glad I found this. I started looking at the Chinese lasers, then found FSL and really liked the idea of the hobby laser to get into laser engraving. But this thread is steering me away from them...

[Jerome Stanek]

Kinda glad I found this. I started looking at the Chinese lasers, then found FSL and really liked the idea of the hobby laser to get into laser engraving. But this thread is steering me away from them...

Both of them are Chinese lasers along with some other US companies

[Ron Ross]

Well, apparently I wasn't getting emailed when everyone was replying to this thread, guess I need to check my settings.. I was starting to wonder..lol

Thanks everyone for all the replies. This is all very good information.. With that being said,

I went ahead with the purchase of the Boss LS-1416 after visiting the Boss Laser office in Sanford, FL

I know these are Chinese lasers with some upgrades and they do cost more than if I bought one from overseas. The thought never crossed my mind to buy overseas. I feel more comfortable dealing with a US based company that sells Chinese lasers and provides support than trying to deal with a company overseas that is not upheld the same legalities that US companies are. I have a fear of ordering a $4k laser from overseas then waiting forever and then its DOA.

This is all new to me, so I am sure I will need support. If I screw something up... which I might, I want good service.

This is my first machine. This is just a hobby for right now with the intention to make a little side cash here and there. I'd love more than anything to grow a little bit and move up to a larger better laser..

Plus, while visiting Boss Laser they sweetened the deal but through in a free stand and worked a little bit with me so I could stay within my budget..

I'm supposed to pick the laser up in a few days. Once I take possession of it, I will document my experiences in hopes someone else learns from them... Perhaps I will start a blog about it.

Thanks again...

[Bert Kemp]

Congratulations Ron on your purchase of a Boss laser. Now the fun begins. Your going to start engraving everything in the house that's not tied down. Your going to have a lot of questions and the guys here will be able to answer most of them.This is my support forum. I've only had to call Rabbit one time , the rest of the time the guys here get me going pretty quick.

[Ron Ross]

Congratulations Ron on your purchase of a Boss laser. Now the fun begins. Your going to start engraving everything in the house that's not tied down. Your going to have a lot of questions and the guys here will be able to answer most of them.This is my support forum. I've only had to call Rabbit one time , the rest of the time the guys here get me going pretty quick.

I think your right..lol