All, I had started a thread, here about finding a "good plasma table", but I am lacking a lot of information. To that end, I'm breaking up the questions, because otherwise the threads become distracted.

First: Warranty. In my mind, this is *the* most important thing that can come with a table and torch. Warranty is a mix of marketing and the manufacturer's confidence in the build quality of their product. Having a long warranty is meaningless if it takes your part/fix two weeks or more to happen, if at all. A long warranty (or even a good response) is meaningless if the machine is constantly breaking. Having a really short warranty means that one could have manufacturing related issues that are not exposed while under warranty, because I'm not putting the machine to full use right away. Nothing worse than having a part fail two days after the warranty ends.

My choices, from the thread above and offline conversations, appear to be (in alphabetical order, specific models excluded):

EZCutCNC (unknown)
FastCutCNC (2 year warranty, 1 year limited on motors/electronics, extended warranty available here)
DynaTorch (1 year, factory return here)
PlasmaCAM (3 year limited here)
ShopSabre (lifetime phone support here)

And my choices for plasma are either:

Hypertherm (3 year PSU, 1 year torch)
Thermal Dynamics (4 year)

I want to know, specifically these details:

1. Manufacturer's warranty on both sides (table/torch). Details of the warranty are relevant, as most don't specify what limits there are in limited.
2. How replacement parts are handled; new part overnight, ground/freight at my cost, return to manufacturer or cross ship (at my cost), mounted on the next slow turtle from Tibet, or will fight against any warranty claim at all costs.
3. Do the manufacturer's have someone that can be called to work through an issue, to determine if it's an operator or hardware problem? Is there a cost associated with that? (i.e. phone support)
4. How often do the machines/torches actually have warranty issues; i.e. reliability
How does the manufacturer handle lemons? Do they just keep sending new parts, do they send you a technician to determine the problem, or stop answering emails?
5. Can extended warranties be purchased?

I am looking for comments from any manufacturers, but I would really like to hear first hand experience, if there is any.

Kris.