Considering a Redsail x700

[Clinton Crawford]

Hello Folks!
I've been doing homework on chinese lasers, and stumbled upon cnccheap's Redsail X700.

From what I've been reading, Redsail seems to be a fairly reputable chinese laser manufacturer, and cnccheap is, for all intents and purposes, Redsail direct.

The photos of the X700 both cnccheap's website, and the ebay page look very promising indeed, the X700 seems to be a fairly handsome machine overall, and seems well built from photographs.

The current roughly $2300 price seems to include CIF shipping to LAX, and seems a little low for the type of machine I'm looking at here. I'm not sure what sort of "gotchas" I need to worry about, considering the price is the same or cheaper than the available Shenhui G350s which are about half the size. I'm all for a good deal but a shipped price at just over twice that of a chintzy K70 laser makes me think I'm not seeing the whole picture here.

This'd be for hobbyist use. I'm fairly familiar with how these devices work. I'm currently helping a gentleman replace the electronics in his unknown brand chinese laser with a LightObject DSP, I'm not afraid of getting under the hood and banging on things when they don't work.

Additionally, I've never imported anything from china before. One of the main reasons I'm considering the X700 (beyond it seeming to be a quality machine by my untrained eye) is that it seems they're taking care of getting it to a warehouse at the port (Los Angeles in my case) and all I'll have to take care of is customs and import business. I'm wondering what sort of "surprises" there are in doing things this way, and if it's more hassle than its worth.

I've been reading back through all of the X700 threads here. I'd like to ask anyone with an X700 (or other redsail laser for that matter) to please comment about your laser, what you like, dislike, and have advice about. I figure I'll probably order some spare parts with the laser as well.

Thank you very much!

-C

[Travis Wizniuk]

This will be very relevant to you!
(http://www.chineselasersupportforum.com/vbul/forum/showthread.php?1491-My-experiance-with-importing-a-Redsail-M900-Laser-Engraver-into-the-USA)

My research shows that it costs between $1000 - $2000 for just import fees (brokerage, duty, extra fees) in the US. Closer to the $2000 mark if you have never imported anything and don't know the pitfalls.

[Mannetjie Botha]

Hi Clint just to let you know I imported a Redsail 700 direct from Lucy at cnc cheap The machine was very well packed and arrived in S.Africa in perfect condition. I had no trouble setting up the mirrors and lens and the laser has been working perfectly ever since. Lucy is an absolute honey to deal with. Here in S.Africa I only had to pay for the customs clearing agent and transport from the port to where I live came to about 11000 Rand in total in Dollars it is about 1100 Dollars That is the Rand Dollar exchange rate and There was no import duty. Hope this helps you decide Regards Mannetjie

[Clinton Crawford]

Here in S.Africa I only had to pay for the customs clearing agent and transport from the port to where I live came to about 11000 Rand in total in Dollars it is about 1100 Dollars That is the Rand Dollar exchange rate and There was no import duty. Hope this helps you decide Regards Mannetjie

I'm glad to know your buying experience went so smoothly. I know it's trying to compare apples to oranges, between South Africa and the US, but how much of the R11k on your end was transport cost from the port to your location, and how much was customs/import/brokerage fees?


My research shows that it costs between $1000 - $2000 for just import fees (brokerage, duty, extra fees) in the US. Closer to the $2000 mark if you have never imported anything and don't know the pitfalls.

Where do all of these costs lie? This is the sort of thing I'm afraid of when it comes to importing from overseas. I don't want to get dinged with unnecessary fees and peculiarities, which is why I'm not diving headlong into this until I figure out what I need to do to minimize the import costs.

Thank you both for your replies!

-C
.

[Mannetjie Botha]

Hi Clint The R1100 was for the customs clearing and sales tax and agents fees witch included transport from the port of Durban to Johannesburg and from there to Tzaneen where I live thanks to friends in the transport business was R400. It was a good deal all round. I also bought a spare laser tube, mirrors, lens and rotary device for circular engraving witch saved a lot on shipping costs in the near future. Regards Mannetjie

[Travis Wizniuk]

I'm glad to know your buying experience went so smoothly. I know it's trying to compare apples to oranges, between South Africa and the US, but how much of the R11k on your end was transport cost from the port to your location, and how much was customs/import/brokerage fees?


[/COLOR]
Where do all of these costs lie? This is the sort of thing I'm afraid of when it comes to importing from overseas. I don't want to get dinged with unnecessary fees and peculiarities, which is why I'm not diving headlong into this until I figure out what I need to do to minimize the import costs.

Thank you both for your replies!

-C
.

I'm sorry I'm not an expert on USA importation as I'm Canadian (I own a Canadian import company).. The $1000 - $2000 that I threw out was based on many other posts I have read (dating back to 2005). That is the crazy thing about importation, its very hard to get solid numbers as its very different based on the circumstances. One person might pay a set $200 in brokerage and another may pay a fee based on declared value. Some brokerage companies are better than others, but most will charge more if they know you are going to import a single item and they probably will never hear from you again (or if you don't have a company name). Another thing that is unpredictable are inspections, one shipment may be inspected, and the other may not. Inspections are also different, sometimes its a simple x-ray, other times a complete unstuffing (rare but costly).

One thing I will recommend, find a good Logistics company. There is a difference between a Logistics company and a Broker. A Logistics company can handle the shipment from door to door and can usually save you money as it will be all combined. Customs is usually smoother with a Logistics company as they import 1000s of items/month (at least here in Canada). They should be able to provide you a complete quote and the only surprise might be inspection fees.

[Travis Wizniuk]

It also appears that I violated the rules of the forum by posting a link to another forum (most moronic/pointless rule I have ever heard of). They removed the link making my post look incomplete.

Anyway.. Do a search on "G. Weike laser Import LAX"... The first result is an awesome post by someone that imported a unit through LA. He lists all his costs..

[Travis Wizniuk]

It also appears that I violated the rules of the forum by posting a link to another forum (most moronic/pointless rule I have ever heard of). They removed the link making my post look incomplete.

Anyway.. Do a search on "G. Weike laser Import LAX"... The first result is an awesome post by someone that imported a unit through LA. He lists all his costs..

Search this as well.. Great info for you..

"redsail laser import la"

[Deane Donaghy]

Hi,
I also imported an X700 from Redsail (CNC Cheap) and dealt with Lucy.
I imported this machine into Australia and as others have mentioned the machine was very well packed and arrived with no damage at all.
You do get what you pay for, but if it is for basic use then you can not go wrong for the price.
I bought the X700 machine, spare, tube, spare lenses and mirrors, and the rotary attachment and water chiller.
The whole bundle landed here in Oz, owed me a tad over $4 K and that includes all fees and taxes etc etc.
For comparison, at the time the Oz agent was asking about $8K for the same machine plus shipping.
So if you are up for the gamble, you will save a pile of money.
I did have one minor problem with the machine, which only turned out to be a $1 fuse, but redsail's after sales service
was good and they replied quickly to all my correspondence, and provided help over the web with supplied webcam.
This is how it was packed, minus the pallet top
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