Need Help!- Bobcad vs Smartcam

[Tim Sewald]

Hello,

We currently use Smartcam and it does a satisfactory job for our purpose (2 and 3D). A salesman from Bobcad has contacted me and basically wants give us two seats v23 to get in the door. Does anybody know if there are any advantages to using Bobcad rather than Smartcam?

Thanks
Tim

[harley4ever]

Stick with what you got. Keep in mind, it's a salesmans job to do whatever he can to make a penny. I've gotten copies of there software in the past for under 200$ and feel it was the biggest waiste of money I ever spent.

[Allen123]

I wouldn't look at what the new software does ( bobcad ) I would look at how long will it take your or other guys in your shop to learn it. From the sounds of it you have run smartcam for a long time. Before they shut down and started back up.

So because you know it well and it works why would you want to take on any new software.

If there is something you don't like about smartcam or if you have a need for some new feature or programming tool, then check out bobcad or any other system that you feel will give you the tools you need.

But if some sales guy called you out of the blue and wanted to sell you a system, my question to you is why would you want to buy it?

[Tim Sewald]

"But if some sales guy called you out of the blue and wanted to sell you a system, my question to you is why would you want to buy it?"

Exactly, and that is why I ask the question.

[Allen123]

I guess what I am is asking is:

The system you have is getting the job done and you and your people know how to use it. Right , Right,

So what is it that you can't do or would like to do that your current system doesn't let you or you need to do .

If the answer is nothing, then why would you buy it.

If you think of anything, let's say working with customers files. ( I think smartcams file translators are older )

Well if smartcam doesn't bring in those files and you have lots of customers that want to send you newer file formats, See if BobCAD can bring those files in.

The question isn't what can BobCAD do for you, the question is what do you want BobCAD to do that SmartCAM doesn't.

I guess what I am saying is if you don't have a need, if everything you do with smartcam works, why would you be looking anywhere else.

If you had a question like:

I do alot of 2D profiles with radius cutters and sometimes depending on the geometry I am left with very sharp areas. I leave this to the finishing guys that grind these areas to smooth them out. Well they don't do the best job of it, So would bobcad help me surface those areas and cut them with a 3D tool path.


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See then other people in here could say , oh yeah I use BobCAD for Bla Bla Bla. But if we don't know what you are doing and what you have problems with then it's hard to make a recommendation for you.

I use BobCAD and have used other CAD CAM systems aswell. I like BobCAd becuase:

A: It's cheap.

B: It doesn't cost much to upgrade

C: It is easy to use / at least for me

D: It cuts the parts I need to Both 2D and 3D

I keep using BobCAD because I know a lot of people that do and can get support when I need to.

They have really upgraded their software over the last few year and from what I hear they are adding more and more features that cost big bucks in other systems. Like High Speed Tool Paths! I can't wait to get that one.

BTW did I say it's cheap. I spend more money taking my girl friend out to eat 1 time ( Valentines day ) then I do on BobCAD for the whole year.

The only thing I don't like about BobCAD is year to year it has been a little buggy. V2007 was a mess and V22 took some time to make it workable. The V23 software does work much better and so far I am very happy with the results I am getting. If they keep going in this direction I don't think you'll be the only one looking at buying BobCAD.

Also I don't like the salesmen / team or really the sales force they have. They can be very aggressive to "earn you business as a customer " Most of the time I don't take their calls, and when they have some thing I want, I hear about it from my friends or by email before I get the sales pitch. This way I know what it is how much it cost and what I can get the salesmen to drop his price to.

Haggle is the name of the game with BobCAD!

This is what I feel to be true about BobCAD