Having just bought another one, I can't say the price appeared to be any different than anything I've seen before. Kind of hard to compare now, since they haven't offered the Synrad tubes in about 7 years now, I don't guess. The warranty we got was longer than the warranty we got when we bought the one with the Synrad tube. The fans are louder, but I think that's because of the configuration to some degree. One thing that is quite different is the machine can be set to go to sleep. When it goes to sleep, the new machines actually appear to be off, where the older machines just go into a reduced power mode but are still running.
Its first day of production was a good one. If it does this for a month, it will pay for itself in a month.
I don't know of any manufacturer that's going to let their reps recommend a 3rd party repair firm for laser repair. In fact, I've always heard them tell you not to do that because they didn't hold to the same specs as the factory. Whether or not that's true, I have no idea, but I can't imagine taking your car to the Ford dealer and having them tell you it would be less expensive if you took it to a shop around the corner to have the engine repaired.
Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers
Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.