Hi ALL,
I am new to the topic of laser engraving, but planning to dive deeper into this topic. I have been wanting to get my hands on an entry level laser engravers from sources like AliExpress but still holding off due to an apparently high tax and duty. Also, I have been circling around the net looking for reviews of these laser engravers but I couldn't find any long term review of these Chinese Laser Diodes. Many people in a lot of forums complaint that their cheap 500mW to 15W did not last a month within first usage.

So I found several slightly more expensive models under several brand names such as Cronos,AtomStack,Ortur that offer 7W,15W and 20W variant (which I know that is the power input) that have overall good initial reviews all over internet, but then again, there is no long term reviews of these units.

Hence in this post, I want to ask those people who bought these entry level diode laser cutter from brands like Cronos, AtomStack, Ortur to give their long term experience and review of those lasers, and any modifications or issues they encountered for entry level people like me to learn.

I am currently just a student which means that I do not have high budget, in fact, I am at the lowest bottom of cheap budget, therefore I do not intend to go straight to buying a CO2 laser cutter. I also currently live in Malaysia, where these kind of shopping takes a lot of dough just to deliver, let alone the tax on items over USD50, hence online shopping sources are kind of limited due to budget.