Lasers engravers offer you a new way to let your creative flag fly. Some can even make you money.
CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise. 9060 Co2 Laser Engraving Machine
The size of your workshop
Laser cutters tend to be large, so make sure you measure your space first.
What materials you want to cut
Diodes have trouble cutting into clear materials, and CO2 struggles with metal. Choose the right one for the materials you want to work with.
Laser cutters produce smoke and dust, so proper ventilation is essential. If you don't have access to a window, think about getting a powerful air purifier system.
CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise.
The size of your workshop
Laser cutters tend to be large, so make sure you measure your space first.
What materials you want to cut
Diodes have trouble cutting into clear materials, and CO2 struggles with metal. Choose the right one for the materials you want to work with.
Laser cutters produce smoke and dust, so proper ventilation is essential. If you don't have access to a window, think about getting a powerful air purifier system.
With more Americans identifying as makers, new products are arriving to scratch that creative itch every day. Machines like 3D printers, vinyl cutters and laser cutters are now available at prices to fit just about any pocketbook. They allow people to bring their creations to life in new and interesting ways. If you have the right materials and machines, you can even turn a profit on stores like Etsy, TikTok and Shopify.
I've used laser cutters for about five years to create various projects, from small dog tags to etching a 7-foot workbench with elven runes. Each cutter I use has a host of different pros and cons, so along with my CNET colleague Russell Holly, I've developed testing criteria to assess the best laser cutters.
You may notice that there are no open laser cutters on this list. After testing several I find them to be too dangerous for the average user. They could be good for commercial spaces, but having an open laser in a garage is just too dangerous for me to recommend.
The xTool P2 is our top pick for the best laser cutter. It isn't the cheapest laser cutter around, but with a host of amazing accessories, fantastic software and a cutting size and speed that are hard to ignore, it takes the crown from the Glowforge Pro, but just barely. It's huge, so make sure you have room in your workshop to house it.
The xTool P2 is the complete package for fast, powerful laser cutting at home or in a small workshop. With a full suite of accessories that let you cut 3-meter-long materials and round tumblers and glasses, the P2 can cut or etch any material you could hope for, including glass and transparent acrylic.
The software is excellent and can help you design your creations to better fit your cutting needs. The camera works well to help you align your materials, but be careful when working near the edge of the camera limits, because the fisheye distorts a little. This bundle comes with some materials to get you started and a fire safety system to give you peace of mind.
Read our xTool P2 review.
The Glowforge Aura is the company's first consumer laser cutter aimed at the entry-level market. It's smaller than the other models, with a less powerful laser, but it works amazingly well on smaller projects. We've made beautiful carvings, etchings and other laser-cut projects on the aura, and all of them have been excellent.
Read more: Hands-on with the Glowforge Aura
Like the original F1, the F1 Ultra has brought me no end of fun while I've been testing it. There is something special about carving a 3D depth map into a coin, a slate coaster or even a rock from your garden that is hard to match with a standard laser. The F1 Ultra is a mixed laser with a blue diode for standard cutting and engraving and a fiber laser for 3D carving.
The F1 Ultra is slightly bigger than the F1 and has the same accessories -- like the rotary system and fluted work surface -- as the F1 too. The best accessory is the conveyor belt, which can be used with the built-in software smarts to engrave batches of the same pattern, so if you need to make 100 more keychains at a convention, you can quickly and easily.
It's been a while since I've had as much fun with a maker tool as I have had with the xTool F1. It's lightweight and very easy to transport if you go to many trade shows, conferences or farmer's markets and, with the accessories in this bundle, you can etch batches of products as easily as one. The software is excellent too, making it easy to line up projects or trace out new projects from a photo.
I recently took the F1 to a STEM fair for primary school kids, and it was extremely popular as it whizzed around cutting out the school logo onto metal business cards. While the price is pretty high for a cutting area this small, you could easily make your money back with just a little work at a farmer's market stall or two. It's well worth the investment.
The Beamo is the smallest of Flux's impressive lineup of CO2 laser cutters, but don't let the small size fool you. The 30-watt laser, while weaker than some on this list, is still powerful enough to etch glass, although you may need the additional diode laser to etch onto the steel. It will happily cut through wood, leather and acrylic.
The Beamo also comes with a handy touchscreen on the device, making it much easier to control from your workshop without a computer plugged into it directly. Flux even has an app that'll let you control the Beamo directly from your phone.
2000w 3000w laser metal pipe tube cutting machine The WeCreat is a fun little box that can etch and cut several materials. It isn't going to carve through thick wood or steel, but it makes fun projects for family fun time. I think it's perfect for schools, especially with its exhaust filter, as the enclosure and air assist make it safe for classrooms and stop little fingers from getting burnt. I created several projects for my kid's kindergarten class, and the teachers all loved it. While the software isn't quite as good as Xtool or Glowforge, the camera is accurate and lets you mark where your material is well. It even has testing squares, so you can try out any material and see what power level you need. That's something all laser cutters should have.