engraving wood - what's the real-world difference between 60w and 80w power?

[jud dinsmore]

it appears i would need to upgrade my power supply with an upgraded laser tube purchase so i'm thinking about sticking with the original 60w tube power. the original laser tube needs replacement so i'm on the hook for a new tube regardless.

right now, my intentions are to use it for engraving wood only. i'm thinking speed will be the only real difference between the two wattages. anything else i'm missing? we won't be close to running it every day so i'm thinking i can wait on upgrading the tube and power supply to a higher wattage. this is my first laser and i don't want to get invested too deeply before figuring it out.

[Dave Sheldrake]

On a glass tube the 60 watt will do a great job of engraving, the benefits of moving to 80 aren't really there...its not much faster cutting and the deck power is higher (the lowest power it will fire at)

Both tubes will easily out pace the physical speed of the machine...quite simply...a Chinese machine won't keep up with a 60 watt let alone an 80 watt

[John Noell]

For relatively deep engraving on some Fiji hardwoods, I max out my power (was 90% but that's too high for long tube life) and run as slow as I can (10-12mm/s), just so it won't char. I have just ordered a 100 watt setup because 80 was only good enough when the tube was new. The only thing I have ever engraved at 100% speed (with either my Epilog or my Shenhui) was Rowmark Flexibrass and paper. YMMV.