hi all. I have a Universal Versalaer VL300 50 watt machine. have had it for 2 months and seen the need for a second and third machine. We offer our services (which runs into 500+ to thousands per order) and also our products at the mall (personalized wood plaques) which dont run into the thousands but give me a consistent daily order.

I shopped around and settled on GCC Laserpro. here in the philippines they are offering the Mercury 25 watts at $19,150 and the Explorer 30 watts at $28,301. Seeing both in action swayed me to the explorer. It was SUPER fast and has a much bigger work area (18"x36"?).

The dealer offered me 50% down and 1 year to pay no interest on both machines. Am I better off with 1 Fast Explorer (which is good for the high volume orders) or 2 Mercury's (in about a years time I'd be able to be a second mercury) which isn't as fast as the explorer but will give me more specific jobs to handle at any given time.

Really stuck here. Sometimes I get large volume orders sometimes I get orders that aren't so large but will require time with different machines.

By the way, I have nothing against Universal. They have been great with me, after sales and everything was perfect. The GCC just came out cheaper with all the add ons (free blower, installation on site, piping, air assist, cutting table, air compressor)

Will be making the purchase by next week so hopefully you guys can help me out with this one!