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Dennis Kotlowski
09-29-2007, 10:19 PM
After some time off due to a family illness I am thinking about getting my laser business going again. I have read about a company called BrightStar Lasers and was wondering if anyone has heard of them and had any comments about them. They are an American company but say their parts are from China. Units come complete with air assist and comp. and smoke vacuum built in. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Dennis

Mike Hood
09-30-2007, 10:48 AM
Take a look at our page before you decide on brightstar.. We are also located in the USA.. We have both tubes , glass laser tubes as well as the rf laser tubes the-lasersedge.com

Oh... I see...


"WE" have both tubes...In your first post... I didn't realize you were the distributor... I suspect you'd be a bit biased? ;)


After some time off due to a family illness I am thinking about getting my laser business going again. I have read about a company called BrightStar Lasers and was wondering if anyone has heard of them and had any comments about them.

Seems like you MUST have already heard of them... (your NAME is on the website) ... Geez... :cool:

Oh yeah... I don't think you supposed to have links like that on SMC? (linking to a commercial site?).

Joe Pelonio
09-30-2007, 1:01 PM
Oh yeah... I don't think you supposed to have links like that on SMC? (linking to a commercial site?).
Correct, has been removed.

John Frazee
09-30-2007, 4:33 PM
I am waiting for mine to come in right now. You are right with them being an American company but here's the deal. They buy direct from China, bring the machine into Ca. That is where they are out of but have a few distributors across the USA. The machines are prepped in Ca. with the US standards or whatever to make them useable here.

I had been in talks with them for several months letting them know I was interested. I checked them out at the Charlotte show and they seemed extremely nice and seemed to know their equipment very well. I continued to stay in contact with them until I got my money in order. They called and told me they had the unit I wanted sitting in Ca. to be shipped but needed me to go ahead and pay. I wired them close to $10,000.00 and it was to ship on the 17th. After the 17th I called for the tracking info and was told it was tied up in customs.(?) They said it would then ship on the 24th. It didn't ship. Then they told me it would ship on Wednesday and they would email the tracking number. They emailed the tracking number but that number was not any good according to the freight company. The freight company looked it up under my name, business names etc and nothing. Brightstar told me to wait over 24 hours for it to get into Roadways system. It still didn't show up. Of course I would think anyone would be getting worried by now and yes, I was! The owner called me and said he was experimenting with a different way of shipping these and didn't know exactly where my laser was or why Roadway hadn't received it. He explainned to me that Roadway didn't pick up in his town so he used a smaller freight company to ship it to a Roadway terminal, then Roadway would bring it from Ca. I don't personally know these people but they do seem like good people. I am not calling them crooks but crooks seem like good people as well. As far as that goes, I almost had a Bishop arrested last week for signing someones name on a check from a closed account and paying me. He too seemed like a good person. I have no idea where my laser is or when it will arrive. I really think these are good people and hate they experimented with my shipment after already having trouble. I hope to have it here this week and will post as soon as it gets here and will keep the forum posted on Brightstar. Before buying from them, I tried to find people with knowledge about them and never heard anything bad. Sorry about the long post!

Craig Hogarth
09-30-2007, 4:41 PM
Mike, I'm confused. You quoted text from Dennis, but the quote says from Dean.

I remember Dennis from when I first started visiting here. He sold his epilog mini to another member and he gave me a good deal on all his blanks/software.

Good to see you back Dennis. Hope all is going well now.

John Frazee
10-04-2007, 11:18 AM
UPDATE......

Last Saturday the owner of Brightstar went with his trailer and found my laser. He took it to the Roadway dock himself to finally ship it to me. It will track now but there's another problem! By tracking it, it shows it is still at the origin. It shows that it hasn't even left Ca. but indicates delivery will be on the 8th. They cannot find it and think it may have been loaded without being scanned. I have to wait until Friday to see if it scans being unloaded at a terminal. The rep still acts very positive and I hope it will arrive and be worth the trouble. Does anyone have one of their lasers that would share their experience?

John Frazee
10-05-2007, 6:32 PM
UPDATE......
Roadway Express found my laser lastnight at the terminal. It never left! It was supposed to be here on Monday for training and setup. They were going to put it on a train last night and I told them they needed to put it on an airplane to have it here for Monday. They took it off the train and put it on a "hot" express trailer that has team drivers to bring it by truck. They said it would be here Monday that way. Now today they say it will be deilvered on Tuesday, the day AFTER my rep is to be here to install. The rep will not come back until the following Monday. That would be yet another week! They told me I could go pick it up Monday in Winston-Salem which is about 1 1/2 to 2 hours away. I paid shipping for it to be delivered to my door.

If this company would have shipped it when they first told me they would, it would be here. I am getting to the point that I am no longer excited about my new toy. If I cancel right now they expect me to pay freight both ways. If I continue and the laser is just as bad as the service up to this point, I can send it back and lose shipping both ways and $750.00 in trainning and setup. I am beginning to wonder if it was to break down, what would they do? What should I do? Any suggestions?

Joe Pelonio
10-05-2007, 6:56 PM
John,

I would not try to tell you what to do, but if it was me I'd do as much research as possible, including looking for other forums to see what other people have experienced with the quality of the machine, the support and turn-around on parts. Then weigh losing some money now with losing possibly more later.

I did do some checking around and it appears that the Brightstar product is same machine as a less expensive Chinese import. They charge more because they handle all of the import paperwork, and provide training, support, and parts out of one or more distributors in the U.S. They also include what others would consider accessories in their package. With that price being still less than what the more established US manufacturers charge that could be a good deal if the durability and service are as good.

Considering your shipping woes I too would have concerns about future service. I don't know if they actually have machines here or if the are imported as ordered, which would help explain the delays.

Most laser companies do require that you do your own service, helping by phone as needed and shipping parts. My experience with Epilog has been very fast service and part shipment and knowledgeable technicians and that still means being down and unable to produce for a day or two. If you have slow service response on this machine after you have established clients you could lose them and that's where it could end up costing you more than if you cancelled the whole thing now.

Good luck with your difficult decision and keep us posted.

John Frazee
10-11-2007, 11:42 AM
UPDATE......

I drove and picked up my laser and had to hire a wrecker to get it off my truck. The sales rep came as planned. He had trouble installing it in the first computer. He checked the computer first and said it looked fine. It has XP pro and is about 1 year old. Something didn't jive with it. He came the next day and switched to another system. This time it worked fine. He taught us how to do nametags etc. I told him I needed to be able to do logos, clipart and photos and he tried for a long time but couldn't figure it out. He was pushed for time and had to leave. He is going to talk to someone to find out how to do clipart and photos and come back. He also didn't have time to teach me how to use the rotary attachment. He said he will teach me that next time. I figured out how to do clipart on it and have been trying different things. It is amazing how these things work!

Can someone please post or direct me to step by step instructions on doing photos? This laser does not cut/engrave direct from Corel, you save as an a i file and open in it's own software. I do not have Photoengrav yet.

Joe Pelonio
10-11-2007, 1:40 PM
Under the circumstances I can't see how you have gotten anywhere near $750 worth of setup and training. Even if he comes back and does "figure out" how to do clipart and photos that's way too much to pay for someone that doesn't know what they are doing.

Their software does nothing other than send it to the laser?

With Corel you can prepare the photo images with Photopaint. I can't go into too much detail so you'll have to experiment but it's basically adjusting the contrast and brightness, often converting from color to grayscale, inverting if it's engraving on a dark surface like black marble or granite. Some photos will have too much background detail or too little contrast to come out, and just can't be done without a ton of work manually (with mouse) touching up. Then you may want to try engraving a small area of your file on a piece of scrap material before using a more expensive substrate. The settings for speed, power, and dpi will have to be determined by experimentation as they will be different for any two machines. If they have not provided a list of suggested settings for each material then ask here what others use for the same wattage as your laser as a place to start.

Jim Good
10-11-2007, 5:03 PM
How in the world can they send over someone to train you when he doesn't know how to do clipart, photos, and logos with the laser? What exactly was he going to show you how to do? $750 is a lot of money to pay someone to tell you he doesn't know how to do it.

I'm sure the good folks on this site can shed some light on your specific laser. It'll be cheaper, too!:D

Good luck! You'll have a blast once you are up and running fully.

Bill Cunningham
10-11-2007, 9:13 PM
It would also look as if he has to go back to the shop, to get someone to show him how the rotary works so he can 'teach' you... For $750.00, I'd be looking for a training 'subject outline' and 'lesson plan' if I had to pay that much for someone of such obvious inexperience to 'train me'! It smacks of the old line "I come before you, to stand behind you, and tell you of which I know nothing about" Put him in a spot! Ask him EXACTLY what your getting for $750.00

Vicky Orsini
10-12-2007, 6:32 AM
As far as I know, no manufacturer will offer to train you on how to use Corel (how to create/manipulate graphics, etc...). That's not their product, and they can't be expected to support it. Having said that, I agree that you haven't gotten nearly enough training on how to use the machine. You should have at least been shown how the system's software interfaces with Corel, and showing you how to use the rotary would be a given. Maintenance was a big part of my training - but then again, I had already had the machine for a week and had pretty much figured out the basics on my own, so my trainer didn't have much else to talk to me about. Maybe you can play around with the system, learn all about the machine, and then offer your services to the company as a trainer? ;)

John Frazee
10-12-2007, 6:36 AM
Just as you all have stated, I have not received $750 in trainning. I didn't receive my shipping I paid for as well! I received an email with instructions on doing photos and he said he would be back next week to show me how to use the rotary attachment. One thing I didn't mention was he was having trouble with raising the table. It is controlled on the screen to raise or lower. Something happened and he ran it up so far that the nosecone smashed deep into the honeycomb insert and it kept trying to go farther but couldn't. You could hear lound slipping noise like the gears were slipping with the pressure. It smashed it in and bowed it out on the backside. He flipped it over and said nothing. I told him the next day I was concerned and it needed to be replaced. He said he would replace it. Hopefully he will without anymore mention. I am wondering now if it could have done anymore damage somewhere else. I don't think it did but who knows? At least I learned what not to do! I feel like I am going to be happy in the end but hate how things have gone so far.


Joe, Jim, and Bill,
Thanks for the idea of asking him what I am getting for the $750. I am now planning on it! I met this person at the show in Charlotte and I thought he knew his product like the back of his hand. I haven't asked him how long he's been with the company but did ask him about other customers in NC. There is one in Wilmington but no more. This person is the east coast rep so I thought he was going to tell me of many, many happy customers around me. He said most were up north. (about 6, I think he said) I assumed he was going to be a pro at lasering. He does seem very smart but just not experienced yet with his product. I didn't know I was a guinea pig! I must say, this machine seems like it is well built from just looking it over. If the quality of the internal workings is as good as the casing, it's going to be just fine after I learn it.

This forum is full of information and I am glad to have found it! Thanks to all that have helped me. Please continue, I need it!

John Frazee
10-12-2007, 6:46 AM
Vicky,

I have been using Corel for years and know lots but not everything about it. I do sublimation, have a Mataza that I have to work on photos to use. I also work on photos to cut them out of vinyl with a Ioline vinyl cutter that looks really neat. So, I can do whatever I need to do with a photo, clipart or logo it just will not laser like text will. I understand the rep shouldn't have to teach me Coreldraw but should train me HIS software to make Corel work with it.

John Frazee
10-12-2007, 6:52 AM
I read somewhere on the forum about the water to use in the chiller. My rep filled mine with tap water. I asked him if he brought distilled water and he said no. I think I read you were supposed to use distilled water, maybe I am wrong. He told me in Mexico you have to use distilled water because their water is so dirty and has so much in it! He told me that my water was going to be zapped so much it would be fine. I know that's wrong but should I use only distilled water?

Bob Keyes
10-12-2007, 9:56 AM
I read somewhere on the forum about the water to use in the chiller. My rep filled mine with tap water. I asked him if he brought distilled water and he said no. I think I read you were supposed to use distilled water, maybe I am wrong. He told me in Mexico you have to use distilled water because their water is so dirty and has so much in it! He told me that my water was going to be zapped so much it would be fine. I know that's wrong but should I use only distilled water?


John,

Please DO :D use distilled water. You will save yourself some problems later on. The tap water contains minerals that are left behind everywhere when evaporation takes place. The distilled water is cheap at any supermarket.