RouterCad

[GlenP]

Hey All, hope everyone is surviving the times. Does anyone have any experience using RouterCad software. I stumbled across it today and thought I would ask. No pricing on their website either. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[Gary Campbell]

Glen...
In my search for software I looked it over online and took a 2 hr online demo using GoToMeeting.

It seems to be a fairly robust offering that has many good and useful features. There are many parametric inputs and includes intelligent joinery. It had a good number of features that I personally really liked, along with a number that were not as good as other programs I have looked at. It did seem to have ability to "change on the fly" better than most.

The person that gave me the demo was knowledgable, but not completely willing to allow me to divert from his agenda to my specific requests, but in the end, did accomodate.

Router Cad uses Enroute as a machining module and I feel that some serious time would need to be spent to get the output (for a ShopBot) that I have seen from other high end offerings.

My guess is that it falls feature wise, very close to where it is priced, mid range. With the full package, including Enroute, coming in near $9,000, I feel it is much better than the lower dollar pieces I have reviewed, but falls short of the higher end offerings, especially in the machine output code. I also feel that, like many of the more advanced design programs, it will have a substantial learning curve. This IS the price of admission.

Since my specific needs may be different than most, please setup a demo for yourself. Every software offering has its strong, average and weak points. You can only tell how its features fit your application by giving it a whirl.

Hope this helps, Gary

[landdesign]

Glen I sat and talked with the guys in the Router cad booth at the Vegas show. i worked with it then and it ran very similar to Enroute.as Gary said they didn't want to go off scrip there ether. I even had a set of cabinet drawings with me to see it in action and they didn't want to work on or with those. I have looked at their web sight and it looks about the same. I would agree with Gary, you should take it for a demo, and have lots of questions BEFORE you do. it is my humble opinion that it falls short.... way short of a value for the price. I have and use Enroute Pro so it was easier for me to understand but it will have a steep learning curve. you didn't say... whats your goal for software in your business?... and will router cad fill it?

Erik

[bcammack]

We have their CountertopCAD/Autocabinets variation and we don't use it. There's no documentation for it, it's utterly inscrutible, and fragile, to boot. Wasted some money on three seats of it.

They can make the software sit up and bark in a demo, but... as far as the real world goes, your mileage may vary.

FWIW - they're a "virtual company". The owners are in Dallas, so is the tech support guy (who works from his apartment), the sales/consulting guy is based out of his home in North Carolina, and the programmers are somewhere in Utah.