Laser companies don’t usually bring the actual decision-makers to your shop. They send a rep, a brochure, and a discount code. XlaserLab sent the CEO, the people actually building and supporting the E3, and a 10W UV prototype they were brave enough to let me abuse for 2 days straight in Yuma, Arizona.  I not only learned a lot about the machine but the size of the company that is bring this to market, they are big over 700 people.  They are for real.

Before anything else:

LaserFreedom.us is not sponsored by XlaserLab. They have paid us exactly zero dollars, there are no affiliate links in this article, and if you buy an E3, my bank account will remain as tragically unchanged as yours. If I say something nice about this machine, it’s because it earned it, not because someone wired me lunch money.

Who showed up, and why that matters

After wrapping up CES in Las Vegas, XlaserLab didn’t just head home and blast out influencer emails. They came to my shop in person—with the CEO and key people from the production and customer service side of the E3 launch. That alone is rare. It means the folks responsible for building it and fixing it when things go sideways were standing in my workspace, seeing how real craftsmen and artisans actually work.

And yes, LaserFreedom.us is going to pat itself on the back here: we were the first US stop on that tour. You don’t usually see a CEO stand in a small shop, watching their prototype get run hard, listening to someone like me talk about what matters to people trying to earn a living with their gear. That’s a very different approach from the usual “throw units at YouTubers and pray” strategy.

Prototype that forgot it was a prototype

On paper, the unit in my shop was a prototype. In practice, it didn’t behave like the usual “don’t look too closely, we’ll fix that later” prototype experience. The enclosure felt solid, doors lined up, nothing tried to shimmy off the table, and it was quiet enough that I could put it in an office without needing noise‑cancelling headphones.

We ran the E3 for at least eight hours straight. No overheating, no forced cool‑down breaks, no thermal throttling drama. For a 10W UV that does not require a separate water cooling system, that’s huge. This isn’t a machine you baby for a few minutes at a time; it’s something you can actually build a workflow around. It was also compact enough that it took up less space on my table than my 3D printer, while still being capable of real commercial work.

This is the part where the “right tool for the job” mantra kicks in. Anyone buying this machine is going to ask one question: how fast can it earn its way out of the box? The E3 is small and quiet enough to live in an office—or yes, even a bedroom if you’re that kind of committed—and still produce commercial‑grade products. That matters, because craftsmen and artisans don’t buy toys; they buy tools that need to pay rent.

Filtration and office‑friendly operation

The filtration system is another area where corners usually get cut. Here, at the projected price point, the filtration was actually effective. I could run the machine in an office environment without turning the air into a science experiment. Is it a replacement for a big industrial fume extractor? No. But it isn’t pretending to be, either. For this class of machine, it hits the mark and makes an “office laser” setup feel realistic, not aspirational.

The honest downsides
Now for the part that too many launch reviews skip: the downsides. There are two worth calling out, and one of them is completely understandable.

Software is still in development

The E3 can do interior glass block engraving and other 3D‑style work, which is fantastic—but that also means it’s not going to run on LightBurn. You’ll be using XlaserLab’s own software. When they visited, the techs had three different versions of the software on their laptop as they refined features and behavior.

Judging a prototype on evolving software would be like judging a race car while the engine is still on the dyno—it’s not just unfair, it’s stupid. The important thing is to set expectations: if you’re dreaming of “plug it into LightBurn and pretend it’s just another UV module,” this is not that. You’ll be learning and living in their software ecosystem, especially for interior glass work.
Rotary quirks
The other negative was the rotary. There were a few glitches around turning and focus that caused minor issues. Nothing catastrophic, nothing that screamed “don’t buy this,” but enough that it goes in the “needs refinement” column. For a prototype, that’s normal. For production, it’s the sort of thing firmware and software updates should clean up—but buyers deserve to know it’s not perfect yet.
Despite those two issues, based on what I saw, anyone who jumped in on the Kickstarter has solid reasons to feel confident. This isn’t a “hope they fix it later” situation—it’s more “they’re actively polishing the rough edges while the core hardware is already in a very good place.”

10W UV vs the 5W crowd

The E3 does not exist in a vacuum. The Xtool UV beat it to market and has already made noise. But the Xtool UV is a 5W machine. The E3 is 10W. That difference is not just a bigger number on a spec sheet; it shows up in real work:

Certain metal color‑marking applications simply favor higher UV power. A 5W machine may struggle or fail where a 10W unit can deliver consistent results.
The E3 is faster, which directly affects how quickly you can take jobs, satisfy customers, and yes, pay off the machine.
When the pricing is in the same ballpark, doubling the UV power shifts the conversation from “nice spec bump” to “this may be the difference between hobby speed and business speed.”

Where This Leaves Buyers & ME

yers (and me)A UV laser has been on the shopping list for a while, and after spending real time with the E3, this is, without question, my strongest contender. If you’ve followed my content, you know I don’t say “I can see myself owning this” lightly. In this case, it’s literal—I can see an E3 parked in my office, running jobs while I’m writing blog posts and planning new projects. It’s fast, quiet, strong, and accurate enough to be a true production tool, not a toy. And for a UV machine that doesn’t demand a chiller and its own zip code, that’s not nothing.

You don’t have to agree with me. The right tool for the job is different for everyone: your materials, your shop space, your noise tolerance, your budget, and your risk profile may all point you somewhere else. That’s fine. In fact, that’s healthy.

You’re absolutely welcome to reach out with questions about the E3, UV in general, or how it might fit into a real small‑shop workflow, and to join the Laser Freedom Facebook group to see what other shop owners and hobbyists are running, where machines shine, and where they fall short. Disagreement isn’t a problem; it’s data. If you’ve had a different experience with UV or with XlaserLab, that perspective helps everyone else make better decisions.

At the end of the day, people buy from people. The ones who visited my shop weren’t just there to smile for a thumbnail; they were, in my view, honest, open about what was still in progress, and clearly trying to fill a real need in the laser hobby and small‑business space with a superior product. They listened, took notes, and stood behind their prototype while it was being used like a real tool.

• For that, and for the way they chose to launch this machine—by showing up in person, with the CEO and the production/support folks in the room—I’ll be forever grateful. It doesn’t guarantee perfection, but it does say a lot about the kind of company you’re dealing with. And in this industry, that can matter just as much as the wattage printed on the spec sheet.