Like many of you, it came down to the Tormach and the Mikini. Ultimately, I chose the Mikini because of its enclosure and higher precision. I got my unit with the integrated controller, the 4th axis, two vises, touch screen, etc. Pretty much the whole package.

Upon getting the machine I was really impressed with the quality. The weight is perfect for so we could still move it around, but you know its not going anywhere. It actually took us 2 weeks to get it into our machining room in the basement of our facility.

Once we had the 1610L in place and hooked up we started to set up mach. We had several problems with the controller that prevented us from using it. Due to diagnosing and shipping times we lost about 3 weeks. Ultimately we came up with a fix and mach is now running well and controlling the mill just fine.

On the day we finally figured out and fixed the controller issue, just as we were going to cut our first part, the power supply rectifier board shorted against the mill's body and blew. Another 5 days lost due to shipping a replacement, but I'm happy to say we got everything working now.

I actually made our first parts on the mill yesterday and plan to have the machine working 6-8 hours a day at least for the first couple weeks. So far so good.

Our plan is to eventually purchase a total of 4 of these as long as it proves to be reliable. On the next one I'll probably just skip their integrated controller and build my own dedicated PC.

If anyone has any questions about the 1610L let me know and I'll respond. One of the hardest things about deciding on the mill was the lack of online reviews or users on the forums. So, if I can help others make their decision I'm happy to do so.