So you can just select the right profiles, and pretty much drag the head in the right place and get a good weld.
It will get better, as well. While it hasn't gotten to handhelds yet (AFAIK), you can actually measure pretty much all of the variables that matter live using the same optics.
So it can get realtime feedback - which means it can adapt, and also, measure the quality of the actual weld for you.
See, e.g, https://lasersystems.ipgphotonics.com/technology/real-time-w...
So it's not just the betterness of the welding technology, but what it enables.
In that sense, it's like what CNC did to production woodworking over time.
You can always make what a CNC does by hand, though it's sometimes annoying or slow.
So some looked at it as just a better wood cutting thingy, and were unimpressed or didn't want to have to learn.
But looking at it as a better cutter misses the point. It enabled automation and other things that simply did not (and arguably could not) exist without it.
You will find essentially no production woodworking that is not CNC based anymore, often with entire lines that go from "raw wood" to "finished product" without human intervention. Those who looked at it as a better wood cutting thingy, or didn't want to learn, were all left behind.
(Note i carefully am talking about production woodworking)
Whether it's automation or other things, laser welding will do the same. It isn't just a better welder. Using lasers enables things that were really hard or complicated to do before.
Even Miller Electric (for those not in the know, they have a significant percent of the market share of MIG/TIG welders) realizes this, and 2 weeks ago announced a partnership with IPG to bring laser welding to the masses.
Given the price point of most handheld 2-3kw laser welders is still 20-30k, and miller's price point is <5k, this is a fairly forward looking thing on their part. They clearly don't hope to try to convince most welders to spend 20-30k.
They instead must think that laser welding is going to eat them somehow, and think they need to lead instead of try to catch up. Given what i've seen, i think they are right on the money there.
this didn't seem compelling to me at first glance because its pretty easy to get reasonable welds in mild steel. But I checked out some videos and see people breezing through with stainless and aluminum and getting good results fast, much faster than tig welding. (and point and shoot welding stuff like thin aluminum that a non-expert would just blow apart with arc welding)... pretty interesting.
Getting good welds consistently is hard, even in mild steel. They may look good, but you only know for sure if you check them (destructively or non-destructively). I've seen some pretty hairy stuff that looked nice on the outside but wasn't all that good on close inspection.
With Aluminum it is actually harder to make a weld that looks good but actually isn't.
