This was a little harder to write than I initially expected. There are so many things I love about my Mira 9 laser. Below are hopefully a mostly condensed version of my top 3ish favorite things:
Speed and Power- So this one is technically two, but they go together. Let's just start with SPEED! Coming from the Glowforge world, I needed a laser with more speed. One project in particular that used to take me an hour and 6 minutes to run now takes me 43 minutes to run. I could make it faster, but I increased my lines per inch to give me a better-looking product. Power goes with speed. I have the Mira 9 90-watt laser and have not had a chance to fully test the power. I usually cut ¼” Baltic birch but like having the option to cut thicker materials.
Versatility – The Mira 9 has a Z depth that allows us to be able to use a rotary attachment or work on larger items. Another advantage is that you can change lenses. We currently have a two-inch lens but can put in a 4-inch lens. This changes the focal distance and allows for the cutting of thicker material or engraving on things that may have a larger lip. Having a higher focal distance allows more room for the laser head to clear the lip without colliding with the material.
Customer Service/Serviceability – Although we have not had a chance to test out the customer service yet (Thankfully), we have heard wonderful things from other Aeon owners. We also had a chance to meet EJ when we went down to Florida to tour their facility before our Laser arrived. EJ is one of the folks who can answer pretty much any technical question you could have about your laser and is also one of the ones helping people troubleshoot their laser when they call in. He was so nice and knowledgeable. I like that they have US-based customer service. EJ also told us that if they can't figure out how to fix your laser over the phone or via facetime they will fly a technician out to your house to help you fix it. I think that is pretty cool and gives me a piece of mind knowing that no matter how I may manage to break my laser they will be able to help me fix it and get me back up and running. The other thing I like is that I can service any part of my laser myself. It doesn’t matter what part may break on the laser, I can order a replacement part through Aeon and they will walk me through exactly how to replace it and get the laser back to running well. One of the things I disliked about Glowforge is that if anything were to go wrong, I would have to pack the entire machine back up, pay to ship it back to Glowforge, and pay whatever they charge for fixing my machine (if they could fix it at all), then pay to have it shipped back to me. This sounds incredibly slow and unnecessarily expensive. If it happened during a slow period it may not be the worst thing ever but if it were to happen during the busy season it would be a really big problem.
If you would like more information on the Mira 9, visit the Aeon website.