What’s the difference between an xTool M1 laser engraver and a WeCreat Vision laser engraver? That’s a great question I’ve been getting asked a lot lately. We’ll be comparing and contrasting all of the different features of the xTool M1 vs WeCreat Vision including speed, power, cutting area, safety, cost and so much more. By the end of this video, you’ll have a full understanding of the differences and be able to make an informed decision on what laser engraver is best for your needs. Watch the full YouTube video here:
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Both of these laser engravers are fantastic for DIY enthusiasts, small businesses, and hobbyists alike. They can both be used to make money by creating personalized products like gifts, home decor, and other crafts. But they do have some major differences that may make one more suitable for your needs than the other. Let’s break it down.
xTool M1 vs WeCreat Vision: Versatility
First up, let’s talk about the xTool M1 Laser Engraver and Vinyl Cutter. This laser machine is unlike any other machine on the market. It’s the worlds first 2 in 1 laser engraving and blade cutting machine. I like to use the analogy that if a Cricut had a baby with a Glowforge, this is what you’d get. It has a laser for engraving and a blade that magnets into place for cutting vinyl. You can’t cut vinyl with a laser. It will melt and it’s extremely toxic to breathe in. Learn more about the dangers of laser engraving vinyl in this video. But you can cut it super easily with the blade that comes in the xTool m1.
The WeCreat Vision doesn’t have a vinyl cutting blade so that’s a huge difference. I love making vinyl projects. With vinyl you can make car decals, memorial lanterns, custom wine glasses and beer mugs, wall decals, labels for organizing, and so much more. I actually have a great video on my channel talking about my favorite vinyl Cricut projects that you should definitely check out. With heat transfer vinyl that also requires a cutting blade, you can make custom shirts, hats, stuffed animals, you can even heat press vinyl onto wood to make custom wood signs. I have tutorials for most of these projects on my channel. If you already have a Cricut then you don’t really need that blade feature that comes with the xTool m1. But if you’re just starting out in the crafting world and have nothing, then the xTool m1 would be my choice. If you already have a vinyl cutter, than I would take a closer look at the WeCreat Vision. So the first thing you should ask yourself is do I already have a vinyl cutter at home and if not is that something I would be interested in getting into?
Raising The Machine
The WeCreat Vision also has a super special feature that sets it apart from all other laser engravers on the market. The WeCreat is the World’s 1st Auto-Lifting Laser Engraver and Cutter. That’s why it looks so much taller and bigger than the xTool. Let me explain what that means. With the xTool m1, it can’t laser engrave tall objects without being manually raised off the table. There’s 2 options for raising up the xTool to accomodate larger projects. The first, cheapest way is with wooden blocks. So you literally pick up the laser engraver and place it on 4 pieces of wood. But when you do this, it opens up the underneath of the machine so smoke can exit into your room through the bottom. To help solve this problem, Xtool came out with a Riser Base with Honeycomb Panel. This allows the machine to be raised, but still enclosed. I think it’s definitely worth it to get the Honeycomb panel, even though it’s a costly add on. You still have to pick up the machine and place it on the riser, but fortunately the xTool m1 isn’t too big or heavy. I’m a pretty small person and I’m able to lift it myself.
The WeCreat looks a lot bigger than the xTool, but it’s actually not. It only looks so much bigger because it raises up automatically. If you were to lift up the xTool on the blocks or risers, it would be around the same size. The xTool is 22” long. The WeCreat is 23 1/4” long. The xTool is 17.5” wide and the WeCreat is 19.5” wide.
With the WeCreat Vision, it’s fully enclosed and lifts automatically with the push of a button. This one of a kind auto-lifting enclosure eliminates the need for a riser base, to work with a wide range of materials. You can engrave and cut everything right inside this machine. I’ve even done pretty big projects like laser engraving 40oz tumblers, which I have a tutorial for on my channel. Since it’s fully enclosed you don’t have to worry about smoke filling up your room. I’m able to vent both machines right out of my window. If you don’t have a window, both machines have smoke purifiers that can be purchased separately for around a thousand dollars. These are big boxes filled with filters that are supposed to clean the air so you can laser engrave inside. I bought this inline duct fan on Amazon to help pull the smoke out of my window even faster. It’s made a big difference on keeping the smoke down.
Safety
Both machines are FDA CLASS 1 Certified. A Class 1 laser is eye-safe under all operating conditions, and is safe under all reasonably anticipated conditions of use. This means you don’t need to wear additional eye protection when laser engraving. I love this because laser engraving glasses never stay on my face and are weird to see through.
Power
Now let’s talk power. The xTool m1 is a 10w diode laser and the WeCreat Vision is a 20w diode laser. That means that the WeCreat has twice the amount of power. With double the power, you can cut projects faster and deeper. The maximum thickness an xTool m1 can cut in 1 pass is 8mm. The WeCreat cuts 10mm.
Speed
Let’s compare speed. The xTool m1 has a speed of 250mm/s. The WeCreat is 600mm/s. So the WeCreat is over twice as fast.
Working Area
Now let’s compare the working area dimensions. The xTool m1 working area is 15″ x 11.8″. The WeCreat working area is 16.54″ x 11.42″. That’s really not much of a difference. The WeCreat is slightly larger in length by 1.54 inches, but shorter in width by 0.38 inches. So that’s pretty close but the WeCreat does have a larger working area. You can put materials larger than the working area inside the laser, too. So while you can only engrave a space that’s 16.54″x11.42″, you could put a piece of wood into the machine that’s 18.70″ x 12.52″ on the WeCreat.
What Materials Can I Cut and Engrave?
Both of these machines are diode lasers so they can cut the same materials. As we just discussed, the WeCreat can cut slightly thicker and larger projects. Some commonly engraved materials with a diode laser are Wood, Leather, Paper, MDF, Coated stainless steel, Some dark opaque acrylic, Bamboo, Fabric, Dark glass, Ceramic, Cement, Brick and more.
What Materials CAN’T You Cut With These Lasers?
You can use pretty much everything except clear acrylic, clear glass and food. Dark glass and acrylic are okay, and there are some hacks out there for engraving on clear surfaces with a diode laser. You can paint the surface with laser marking spray, chalk spray or tempura paint. Then clean it off after lasering. Or you can use laser marking paper. As far as food goes, if you have a brand new machine and use it for food only, it’s fine. But doing food after a wood cutting or engraving, the dust may soil the food. Soft metals like gold, silver, brass, and copper can not be cut or engraved with a diode laser. An infared or CO2 laser would be better for these types of materials.
Camera
I love how both of these machines have a camera built in. This makes it so you can see your blank when it’s on the bed. You can drag and drop your design in the software and know it will engrave exactly how it looks on the screen.
Software
Both machines use their own versions of software. The WeCreat software is called WeCreat MakeIt! and xTool’s software is called xTool Creative Space. They’re pretty similar and have a lot of the same frequently used tools like importing designs, adding text, shapes, things like that. I think currently the xTool software has more useful features, like being able to export designs you make as an SVG file, but the WeCreat MakeIt! Software is getting better as time goes on.
Lightburn Compatibility
One frequently asked question with laser engravers is are they compatable with lightburn? LightBurn is software that allows users to design, edit, and control laser cutters. It’s considered the industry standard program for laser engraving. The answer on compatibility is: Sort of.
Neither machine is fully compatible with Lightburn. Full compatibility means that Lightburn will detect the machine and cameras through USB and send the program right to the laser with no other software requirements. Neither machine will fully connect to Lightburn in this way. The way these machines are compatible is that since both machines run off of a programming language called “G Code,” you can download a machine profile to configure Lightburn to output the code in a format your machine will read. Then you take that code file generated in Lightburn and send it to the laser using either the xTool or WeCreat software. You lose the ability to position your work using the camera, so things can get kind of tricky with complex projects. I hope one day both companies can get full Lightburn support because, like I said earlier, it really is the industry standard laser engraving software with tons of great features.
One thing that I’m really excited for is on WeCreat’s website, it says that they’re working on several different laser heads, such as the infrared (1064nm) laser head to work with all kinds of metal, glass and acrylic projects. They will gradually offer these new laser heads in the coming few months. Being able to swap out laser heads in this machine will be such a cool game changer. It would allow you to cut so many more different kinds of materials.
Ease of Setup
Which machine was easier to set up? Both machines came nearly fully assembled, but one machine was definitely faster and easier to put together than the other. That machine was the xTool m1. I love how their screws didn’t require annoying screw drivers or allen wrenches. I also like how their hose clamp was a pinch design. This was a lot easier to put on than the type that came on the WeCreat that you had to tighten with a screw driver. I’ve had other laser engravers that took hours to assemble so I was happy that both of these were easy enough for a beginner to put together. I have unboxing and how to assemble videos for both of these lasers on my channel.
Air Assist
The next thing I want to talk about is air assist. Air assist is feature of a laser cutter that blows high-pressure air between the laser beam and the material during cutting or engraving. It can help improve results by reducing heat, removing debris, preventing burning, and improving edge quality. Simply put, an air assist will make your projects look cleaner and with less burn marks around the design which is really important.
Air assist is included in the WeCreat. One thing that I love about the WeCreat Vision is that it’s an all in one machine so there’s not a ton of stuff sold separately. You can either buy just the machine, the machine plus the rotary, or the machine with a fume extractor. Their basic pack comes with everything except the rotary. So that’s the 20w machine, the auto lifting enclosure, a HD camera, the laser bed and air assist.
Cost
Now let’s compare the cost.
This WeCreat basic pack is normally listed at $1699.99 but is on sale right now for $1399.99.
Trying to talk about pricing with the xTool m1 is a little more difficult because a lot of things are sold separately, and then then have bundles which usually save you some money. Their basic machine is going for $1099.00, on sale from the normal price of $1499.99. This is just the machine without an air assist, rotary or risers.
So comparing the basic xTool to the basic WeCreat, the xTool is cheaper by $300. However, the basic WeCreat has 10w more power, air assist, and rises to accommodate taller projects.
To bring the xTool to the same level as the WeCreat’s basic package, you would have to buy the air assist, sold separately, which is currently going for $135.15 and the honeycomb riser which is $159.79. Adding those 2 things on separately would bring you to 1,393.94. So basically the same price as the basic WeCreat. You get half the power but also the blade cutting technology.
Now let’s talk cost including the rotary attachment. A rotary is what you need to engave round objects like tumblers.
The xTool deluxe package includes the rotary, air assist and $286.97 worth of free gifts. These gifts include basic and premium materials, mats necessary to cut vinyl with the machine, blades and vinyl. However, that doesn’t include the honeycomb risers which you need to use the rotary, unless you want to use those wooden blocks. So add on another $159.97 to that $1399 and now you’re at $1558.97.
The rotary pack on the WeCreat is $1599.99. However, they have a great Easter sale going on right now where you can get the rotary and a 23 piece set of Colored Plywood for $1539.97. Colored plywood is cool because you don’t have to paint your wood at all. A 13 piece pack is $120 on their website so getting a 23 piece set included for less than the normal cost of the machine and rotary is a pretty sweet deal. But it’s double the power and doesn’t have a cutting blade.
If you want to add on the fume extractor, that will bring your cost up quite a bit. The WeCreat bundle that includes the fume extractor is $1799.99. However, I’ve heard some pretty not great reviews about their fume extractor. I have one but I still haven’t taken it out of the box yet so I can’t speak from experience on that. The xTool’s best bundle including the fume extractor is $2424.00. They call theirs a smoke purifier, and it has pretty good reviews on Amazon. This bundle also comes with a few hundred dollars worth of materials. I’m curious if these smoke purifiers are interchangable. Like could you put an xTool smoke purifier on a WeCreat? That’s something I would like to know.
Conclusion
As you can see, there’s a lot of differences between these machines. It’s hard to say if 1 machine is really better than the other because they’re just different. The main differences being the blade cutting feature on the xTool m1, the auto rising feature on the WeCreat Vision, the 10w vs 20w power differences, and the air assist being included on the WeCreat but sold separately on the xTool. If you already own a Cricut machine then I think the WeCreat is a better buy. But if you don’t have a Cricut or similar cutting machine, then having that blade feature is really cool with the xTool.
