LaserBits Laser University

[Ed Maloney]

Any opinions about the LaserBits Laser University online course?

[Tim Goldstein]

I signed up for LaserU so that I could have something to do to distract myself while I wait for my laser to arrive. Thought it might be helpful to other to post my impression now that I have had some time to go through their material.

Overall I feel that it was a worthwhile spend of the money and think that the tips and suggestions I got are worth the $130 I spent. Even though I have used Corel since 92, I did learn some new tricks that will save time and give me new ways to accomplish things. I also feel the information on how to work with the various materials they cover will save me the cost of admission in reduced scrap as I start actually using the machine.

What I was disappointed in is 2 things. One, Much of what is in the Corel Center is just duplicated material from the Learning Center regrouped under Corel. Two, while the sales overview tells you "We have added printable versions of our lessons and videos!", this is only partially true. When I asked about the printable on the lessons where a downloadable PDF was not show (the vast majority of the Learning Center lessions) I was told that what I needed to do was print them from my browser in landscape mode. Yes by printing to a PDF I was able to get a copy of the lesson that I can use for reference, but it was not the ease or quality print layout I was expecting. Also, there seems to be no way to download and retain a video for future reference once your subscription expires.

As I said above, I feel I got my money's worth out of the subscription. But I think that the LaserU folks can definitely make some improvements and alter some of the promotion so that people get exactly what they are expecting instead of feeling a little mislead. I would not suggest that anyone sign up for more than the 3 month minimum as there is not enough content to require more than a week or two to cover and the only recurring use item I can see is the laser setting calculator which I can not see being worth added cost for a longer subscription.

[Luke Phillips]

Not impressed - learned more from the forum overall.
Stone Canvas

[Mike Klafehn]

I would have to somewhat agree with Sloan. While some of the courses have some pertinent tidbits, 95% of what I now know about laser engraving was gained from forums like these.

That said, I don't think it was a waste of money, just not the holy grail of laser engraving info.

I would have appreciated it more if they used more real world applications, not just name tags or pens. Techniques of how to use wood, acrylics, fabrics in creative ways would also be welcome and videos of the finished product.

[Steve Clarkson]

I searched the forum concerning LaserU and this is the most recent post that I could find.....but it's about two years old.

It seems like there have been alot of new laser owners in the past two years, and I assume alot more people have signed up for LaserU......so, has LaserU improved any in the last two years?

Opinions, anyone?

Thanks!

[Jeanette Brewer]

Steve,

Disclaimer #1: We sell lasers so I've never used LaserU as a real, live engraver would.

Disclaimer #2: Mike Fruciano (president of LaserBits; founder of LaserU) is a friend of mine.

With those things said, the LaserU "Designer" (Kathryn Arnold) gave me a login & password several months ago so I could run through the site for a "test drive" that I was writing for our quarterly newsletter.

My test drive revealed that LaserU had been beefed up, significantly, since the last time I looked at it (probably 2.5 years earlier?). After being sufficiently satisfied that I could recommend it to our customers, I did just that.

We've packaged a 90-day subscription of LaserU with about 20 lasers since that time & I've received very good reviews from a few of those customers. FWIW, no one has said "it wasn't worth the $$$".

HTH!

[Dan Hintz]

Jeanette,

Any idea how many of those users were brand new to the laser world? I ask because any info when you're new is like gold. If you've been doing this for a year +, it may prove to have a significantly smaller return on monetary investment.

I'm curious...

[Jeanette Brewer]

Dan,

Good point. The majority of those subscribers (with whom I'm familiar) would be considered "newbies".

While content may have been added since my last "test drive", I'd say anyone who has "graduated" to the intermediate/advanced level with your laser would probably not benefit from the subscription.

If said intermediate/advanced laser owner ever hired a new employee, though, I would think LaserU would be an excellent training resource.

Just my 2-cents worth.

[Larry Bratton]

When I had ordered my laser..some 17 months or so ago..I bought the Laser U deal. I found it to be helpful and along with SMC ,I was prepared to start running material the day I received the machine. I did not, however, re-new my subscription. I felt the information was pretty much basic information I could acquire through experience and online forums. I can say I think it was worth what I paid for it at the zero experience level.

[Alexander James]

I think it is helpful in a situation where you have a new employee and dont have time to give a STRUCTURED introduction to laser engraving. You can also use the exams as measuring tool. We printed all the lessons in a folder for future use for other employees. I dont think it's worth a renewal after 3mths. Maybe after 2 yrs...

[John W. Love]

In March of '07 I wandered into the wonderful world of laser engraving as an innocent, albeit ignorant, virgin. After some trial and error I decided to give LaserU a try. As it was mentioned above, for a newbie the information is beyond gold, it is platinum. It gave me the basic knowledge and confidence to move forward. I would definetly recommend it for the newbie. And as also mentioned above, a year and a half later I don't think it would be able to teach me much. Honestly, I think if it hadn't been for Laser U my laser would be just sitting in a corner gathering dust.

[Anthony Scira]

Being a newbie myself I found the information to be good. And I like the video demonstrations and just all the information in one place.

But I found that by the time my subscription ran out there was little need to re-subscribe.

But all in all a worthwhile investment considering the price of the laser.