[Dstamp]

Just started with this a few weeks ago, only used Mastercam 8 at a previous job, and though the commands take a little getting used to, this software is a great value for me. The training DVD's help a lot and the functionality/price ratio is great, at least for my application on a 3-axis knee mill converted to Mach 3 running in my basement.

The simulation feature is one of my favorites, though it shows the weakness in the computer that I am running it on. That computer will be upgraded soon I hope.

Thanks to the Bobcad guys for a good product at a good price. Ten years ago my colleagues scoffed at it, so I never gave it much of a thought until it was time to spend my own money. For my $$ it's the one to have.

[Big Chips]

yeah...you are right dead on...

i had other shops scoff at it to...till they saw the toolpath and parts i have produced from it....thats when i get a smile on my face...

the open pocket feature really kicks my friends but with the ease of use and the stock feature as well...

[mmoe]

Without taking price into consideration, it seems to me that Bobcad, since V24, has struck a good balance between easy to use and adaptable to specific needs. With the price taken into account, it's definitely a good value now. For a shop with generic and unpredictable needs (as in, you don't have a narrow focus and serve a wide variety of customers), it's difficult to beat.

7 or 8 years ago, I had purchased OneCNC XP Pro as my first CAM software, but it was unable to work with my machine due to some pretty constraining limitations to the post processor at the time. The beauty of it was that it was all done in a wizard, but that was also the limiting factor. If your machine was outside the box, as mine was with advance tool calls needed to bring the current tool to the cutting position, the wizard did not have a check box for it nothing they could do would work. After a couple months of dealing with OneCNC, they issued a partial refund because they couldn't produce what I needed. I'm not badmouthing them, as it was a great product that I couldn't use.

After loosing about $1500 on that deal (they only gave a partial refund), I was determined to make any future product prove they could give me a useful post processor before I paid any more money for it, as that was a costly lesson learned the hard way. One of the few that could was Bobcad, and as I recall there were really only 2 or 3 options, the rest over $10k. I think my first version ended up being V19, and to be frank it was like stepping back in time compared to the ease of use of OneCNC. Since then, I've had V21 and now V24. V24 is where I think Bobcad has finally produced a product that is user friendly. In fact, I'd say it at least caught up with OneCNC on the ease of use front, but still provides a post processor platform that is flexible enough to cover a very wide range of machines. There are products out there that can do that, but often they aren't as affordable or easy to use. There are products that are easier to use, but they don't often offer as much flexibility.

[oxford]

Used Bobcad V22 for a couple years. Just got V25 a few months ago. All the issues I had with v23 were fixed. The CAD portion of the new version seems a lot stronger computationally than before. I put together a pretty complex part in v25 that I would have had trouble doing in v23. I also think my interaction with the salesman was better this time round. In summary I think the company and its product have reached maturity:P