Epilog Helix on USB or Ethernet?

[Bob Davis]

I've had a Helix 45w for a few weeks now and I think I'm getting the feel of it. All good so far but not a huge improvement on the Epilog Radius 25w it replaced.
I have it connected with USB, mainly because it was faster and easier to setup. From other posts it appears Ethernet is more commonly used, and I've been told that it is the Epilog recommended connection. A search of posts has indicated that some users have had problems with USB, though I haven't.
The USB takes 3 or 4 seconds to send the job (slightly longer for large jobs) which isn't a big deal, but I would prefer it to be faster. Is Ethernet faster or does it have any other advantages for day-to-day operation? Opinions gratefully accepted.

[Scott Shepherd]

On the Epilog, the ethernet is faster and more reliable. We had issues with their USB as others have as well, moved to ethernet and all those issues went away. It's worth doing.

[Joe Pelonio]

I use ethernet. For most jobs it's there before I get to the laser, which is right next to the computer. Really big jobs, say 10MB+ can be started right away, but if you preview it on the little screen, only part is there. It always catches up before it gets to that place on raster, though I have had one or two really big cut jobs where it did pause a few seconds for the data to finish getting there. Why not try it, you can always switch back.

[Jim Watkins]

My switch was not so much due to needing speed to the device but issues I had with the interface. I would have times when the job would send from the PC and never make it to the laser.

When I switched from USB to Ethernet it solved all my problems. Call Epilog and they will help you through it. Once the set up is complete you'll be happy. And with their help it will only take a few minutes.

[Frank Corker]

I originally had mine on USB but it is much better and faster with the ethernet connection, no failures since.

[Brian Robison]

I guess I'm the only one to be the opposite here. Ethernet is great but I use a laptop and I'm always unplugging it to take it with me. My old laptop was on ethernet and it wasn't all that great. The laptop would look for signals so if you used the internet it was tough to go back to the laser. Kinda wierd I know. When I got a new laptop I needed to get the laser running asap so I just used the usb. My new laptop is really fast, set up to run sweet with Vista but I ordered XP. It's a LOT faster sending files than the old laptop and the ethernet connection. Almost too fast. I liked to watch the green data light flash ut now it's so fast that the file is almost always there before I am. The laptop is right beside the laser too. The usb has been flawless for one and a half years now.

[Ryan O'Hara]

Bob, I use ethernet for my connection since the laser is more than 15 feet from my pc. I was previously using an old pentium 4 pc with only a 10 Mb/S lan card. I recently upgraded my pc with a mother board that has a gigabit lan card and I can now send huge engraving files over to the laser in 2-5 seconds, when this may have previously done in 30 seconds to 2 minutes.

[Bill Cunningham]

Ethernet here as well... You probably got the correct Ethernet cable with your engraver. If your using a portable like Brian the ease of USB makes sense, but for a direct shop hookup, Ethernet is much better, fast and more reliable..

[Scott M Smith]

One thing about using a laptop is instead of using a crossover cable and hooking directly to the laser or using a switch, use a wireless router. It will give your laptop a IP address via DHCP and then just set the IP on the laser and you should not have to worry about it. Most laptops have wireless cards built in now and that way you do not have to worry about connecting and disconnecting the laptop.