Hurricane Laser

[Mark Smith61]

David, you addressed this to me, but I've already bought a Hurricane laser and have been using it for a year now. I'm happy with it.

[Mark Smith61]

Yup. Lasers aren't the only thing coming from China and everything has a markup probably in excess of 100% for most everything.

[Mark Smith61]

I'll agree that the pictures look the same, but that doesn't mean they are the same machine. Even in the photo you can tell the controls are different.

[David Somers]

Sorry Mark Smith61! I thought I had the flow of the thread firmly in hand! So much for that!

Glad you like the Hurricane!

Whoever I thought I was talking to.....the ideas are the same! I say sheepishly! <grin>

Dave

[Pete James]

We routinely sell products at markups of 100%. If you are in business, you should get the largest markup that you can. Why would anyone sell something for $5000 that they could sell for $10000?

[Jerome Stanek]

there was no shipping because I picked it up the there is no customs for me as they were paid for when it reached the USA. It does didn't have the CV5000 chiller but that was a $500 add on. the add on legs came with mine no charge. along with the 60watt tube.

[Scott Shepherd]

It's called "Support". Who do you think pays for the guy on the other end of the phone when you call a couple times a year to ask for help? The reason the mainstream machines are expensive is because they have higher quality parts, higher quality drivers, and they offer support for the life of the machine. That's got to be paid for somewhere. The importers that are giving support in the USA are doing the exact same thing. They are taking parts they believe to be inferior and replacing them, then they are offering installation help, and phone support.

It's not rocket science. Support has to be paid for somewhere, by someone. Sounds like some of the importers are just trying to give a better business model and giving a tier of support that wasn't previously there, or isn't there at all in many cases. Charging more for that service isn't gouging people, it's paying for their staff to help you.

[Mark Smith61]

You picked it up in China? Or was shipping cost built in?

[John Kaspar]

This is not an advertisement as I know they are banned on Sawmill but rather a clarification for the value of all in the laser community. First, thank you to Mark and the many other happy Hurricane Laser customers for their support. We work very hard to provide the best quality and support in the community. There are also many other great companies out there such as Rabbit Laser, Epilog, Universal, Trotec on and on. It is this competition that is helping the entire industry to improve quality and lower costs. Free markets working the way they should.

As mentioned and admitted I did work for FSL prior to starting Hurricane Lasers. Let's just say that Henry and I had differing opinions on business practices. I did not have an non compete. I also did not have hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep fighting a frivolous lawsuit so our attorneys withdrew and therefore he won the suit. As mentioned by other viewers winning suit and collecting are two different things. Hurricane is in business and will continue to be. Perhaps I will have to pay a portion of what we make to the extent the law requires. But losing a lawsuit does not mean you have to shut your business. If it did there wouldn't be a business left in this country.

As for being what I call a Chinese box mover. We are not. We provide optics from Meller Optics here in the States vs Chinese Optics. This promotes less variance in the cuts and engraving and a longer life. We also are proud of our 2 year full warranty that covers everything including the tube.Thank you and Happy New Year!

John

[Mike Null]

John

I have edited your remarks to remove what I perceived as advertising language.

[matthew knott]

Fair play for letting John defend himself, his customers seem happy and the mark-up is neither hear nor there if you need the services and experience he offers, if you want to go-it-alone pay someone in China and hope you can sort it out yourself. I paid £3.85 ($6.16) for a coffee yesterday, wonder what the markup is on that Starbucks.

[Ray Beaty]

Fair play for letting John defend himself, his customers seem happy and the mark-up is neither hear nor there if you need the services and experience he offers, if you want to go-it-alone pay someone in China and hope you can sort it out yourself. I paid £3.85 ($6.16) for a coffee yesterday, wonder what the markup is on that Starbucks.

I have an Ivan 60w I bought 2 years ago and the machine has worked like top and the staff at Hurricane Laser has been superb when needed for advice or trouble shooting.

[Ron Philman]

I have a Hurricane Ivan that I bought Jan 2013. I'm happy with it and I was happy with Hurricane Lasers. As for the lawsuit, I looked up the info that was available online and it does give me some concern...

Seems to be good experiences early on but with the current landscape - $2m law suit, and I guess now this Gene Sherman, suit. Thats a lot of smoke..and Im sure attorneys or FS will pursue collection.

[John Kaspar]

Mark,

Nothing to be concerned about as we are open and doing well.

Ron,

As far as collecting that will take some time as they will be entitled to some of our net income but nothing else. Might take 50 years to pay them off if ever. As stated earlier, if every company that lost a suit had to close there would not be anyone in business.

John

[Mark Smith61]

Just wanted to add that just yesterday (Jan 17, 2014) I had the need to call Hurricane for tech support. The phone was answered in two rings and my problem was solved in about 30 seconds. Of course I felt like an idiot when I heard the answer and the lady fixing the problem didn't even know she fixed my problem. When I bought the laser I also bought the rotary attachment. I just never used the rotatory attachment until now. So I finally got it out and hooked it up and followed all the directions to set up the software but whenever I'd hit test it was clear I didn't have it configured right. I played around for an hour and couldn't fix it and finally called. She asked the diameter of my material and I told her three inches. She said, "okay let me convert that to millimeters," and I said, I'm such an idiot. I had not converted to metric. What a dummy. Problem solved. So Hurricane is still in business and answering the phone and fixing my dumb mistakes.