My Gweike Cloud Review prompted a bunch of people to ask about other machines, notably the OMTech Polar.
Take a look, it seems to be identical!
It seems that the trend of budget laser companies using the same parts, or even whole machines, and then rebadging for international markets continues.
While right now they seem to be very similarly priced, it makes you wonder how they will differentiate in future.
OMTech you might recognise as a supplier of K40 machines. These laser cutters are the ultimate in generic, low cost devices. The K40 is the hobbyist and tinkerer entry-level but with an infamous reputation for dodgy wiring and sketchy QC.
Companies like OMTech take the base design and offer localised customer service and distribution.
For me, while I loved my K40 after I very much upgraded it (see my K40 upgrades here), I never really got the most out of it because of laser focus issues.
With the OMTech Polar and Gweike Cloud you don't have to align mirrors, because the laser tube moves on the Y axis, and you have a motorised lens "z" but still no auto focus.
Without having the extra intelligence and autofocus of the Glowforge, are OMTech going to be able to show much added value over one of their own more powerful and larger capability machines?
I would say the desktop form factor helps, but they need to catch up on the software side and really work on making the camera experience much better.
Going to be interesting going into 2023 ...