Hurricane Laser

[Tim Patterson 4]

New to the laser community; I am looking at purchasing an entry level Hurricane laser and am looking for any reviews or feedback in regards to performance, ease of use, customer support etc. From what I have seen they appear to offer a good unit at a low price that is attrcative to a beginner. Any feedback and or advice would be greatley appreciated.

[Ross Moshinsky]

It's a Gweike laser. They get pretty good reviews. As for Hurricane: You have several issues buying from someone like Hurricane but it's just the nature of the beast.

1. They are "small" now. I believe as a result, they are rumored to offer pretty good customer service. If their business continues to grow, will they grow with it? If they don't, you can expect very poor customer service.

2. On the flip side, if business is slow, are they going to just dump the company and move on to something else? If you think about it, once all the machines are gone, all they have invested is $5000 into a website. It's not that difficult to move on from that. Once they are gone, you're left trying to deal with China directly.

My opinion is that I'd buy from Rabbit Laser if I was a beginner and not looking to import myself. The whole point of selling Chinese lasers in the US is to allow the customer to avoid the hassle and risk of buying directly from China. It's also to provide the next level of customer service and information. Hurricane's website has no information about actually using the machine. No write-ups. No projects. No technical information. I'd be very concerned with their level of knowledge and it's simply a hassle having to call them up to learn how to use the machine. Online tutorials would go a long way.

I don't think they will screw you but I also don't think they offer enough services and security to warrant the increase is price vs shipping it in yourself. Rabbit seems a step above the rest in this regard.

[Rodne Gold]

What is "entry level"? , if its one of those small desktop things like this one , I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole regardless of how it is modified/tweaked etc.

[Tim Patterson 4]

I am looking at their Ivan model, a bit bigger than the desktop.

http://hurricanelasers.com/ivan

What is "entry level"? , if its one of those small desktop things like this one , I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole regardless of how it is modified/tweaked etc.

[Rodne Gold]

Seems very high pricing - that laser gonna cost you 10 grand before you finished
the machine should NOT cost you more than $3-4k ex china with some spares.
90 Watt tube +$1,000.00 $200 for a cheapy , $450 for a RECI
Rotary Attachment - Roller +$895.00 - from china $200
Rotary Attachment - Chuck +$895.00 0 from china $200
1.5 inch lens +$250.00 $40 for the same ex china
2.0 inch lens +$250.00 $40 for the same ex china
5.0 inch lens +$250.00 $40 for the same ex chin

Not sure I would go for this machine at those prices......... up to you whether you want to pay double or more...
Tons of threads re chinese machines , you need to read em to get a "feel" for whats on offer.

[matthew knott]

Shhh Rodne, you will let the cat out of the bag
5 thousand us dollars for a Reci glass tube, be gutted if that got broken during shipping!
Im shocked at some of the markups people are charging for directly importing chinese machines and selling then on.
Guess if you can get away with it, fair play, but its a lot of money for hand-holding IMHO

[jordan djeu]

thanks... that's exactly what i needed to know.. so Hurricane are Chinese laser...

[Donald Ethredge]

Yes Hurricane Lasers are Chinese lasers, I basically purchased mine from them because I was able to physically look at them and speak with them in person in Vegas, and felt I would like to deal with a person not try to figure out from forums how things worked. And it also eliminated the fact if I ordered it direct and something happened I did not have the same issue I recently had with a damaged piece of equipment that was valued at over 5000.00 I ended up getting 2400.00.

So far everything has went smooth, and been able to call every time and get a person to help me out.

[Ron Philman]

I reviewed hurricane laser about this time last year. They have added some US components to their machines
so its not all Chinese...whats going on with them now?

[Jerome Stanek]

I saw they lost a law suit against them but they say they are still in business.

[Dan Hintz]

I saw they lost a law suit against them but they say they are still in business.

A $2M lawsuit... I would be very concerned about the viability of the business. Also, searching on the owner also turns up several lawsuits in the past for "misappropriating" funds from charities and such.