Free days roll over

Easel Easel Pro
1

I would like to suggest having some sort of roll over for unused free days. Even if its just one month at a time so the most you could have saved up is 8 free days. Its a life saver with my cell data, and might help some people out during extra free time for carving.

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2

I’ll sell you my unused days :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Actually… whats preventing me from having my whole family (and extended) get an account and we each get 4days? I could almost get a month free…

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I believe free days come with machine purchase, rather than signing up for an Easel account.

4

Ahhhh… that makes sense

5

That’s not what they have publicly stated. Free days are not attached to machine purchases.

Unless I completely missed something.

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From https://inventables.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/2892848-easel-pro-faq-and-overview

Can I try Easel Pro for free?
Anyone can design, preview, and simulate projects in Easel Pro for free. X-Carve and Carvey owners can carve Easel Pro projects for four (4) days every month without a membership. A paid monthly or annual membership provides you with unlimited access to Easel Pro.

I thought I also saw something about it in the keynote, but I wasn’t paying too much attention. I interpreted that as machine purchase providing the 4 days, but I could very well be mistaken.

Edit: also this comment

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That’s a new stipulation that I don’t recall.

Wonder if that screws over those who buy second hand?

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I guess they could implement a ‘license transfer’ system. From a business perspective they’d need to have something to protect/prevent people from signing up for multiple accounts to get EP’s features for free.

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IP tracking would do it. 5 different accounts using the same IP might throw a flag.

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That could work, but could also introduce other issues - proxies and VPNs. If a school/business had several Carvey/XCarves going, they’d raise those flags. Whitelisting, I suppose, depends on if their ISPs provide static IPs or not.

Ah well, for Inventables to figure out/shed light on I guess :slight_smile:

12

Yea that’s more my point. I go to Craigslist and buy one and then read “hey free days!” Then I’m told “wellllll not you because you bought second hand”.

There’s other things that actually do limit the benefits to only original purchaser but still.

14

My understanding is if you’ve bought any CNC from Inventables, you’ll get 4 days of Easel Pro free per month. Think of them as perks of buying from Inventables. If you haven’t purchased a SO2, XCarve or Carvey, but have a SO1, SO3, or any other GRBL machine, Easel Pro will still work just fine, you’ll just need to pay for it.

From that FAQ, if you want to trial it, the “design surface” is free, the carve button will just be disabled. Not too dissimilar to what Vectrics product trials are like (no-saving-of-gcode until you buy it)

16

I’m not sure where all this confusion is coming from; I thought they explained it clearly.

Easel is free, and always will be. Easel Pro is an optional subscription upgrade. If you are an Easel user, you get 4 - 24hr blocks (also known as days) per month to carve using the features of Easel Pro.

Designing with Easel Pro features (i.e. v-bits) does not ‘cost’ you one of your blocks, only when you go to carve your ‘Pro’ project. If you need more then 4 blocks in a particular month and don’t desire a subscription, they offer extra blocks for $2.99.

Purchase of subscription, extra blocks, or use of a complementary block does not happen ‘automagically’ when you press CARVE. You will have to confirm purchase with a dialogue.

Finally, in the quality service from Inventables that we have all have appreciated at one time or another; Inventables has assured that IF something were to happen causing a user to loose the use of one of their precious free blocks (unexpected machine problems, Godzilla, Kim Jong-un invites Trump and Putin for a round of golf) they will address and rectify the issue.

DISCLAIMER: I’m not an employee of Inventables nor a spokesman for them. I’m simply compiling statements I have read (REPEATEDLY!) addressing concerns from the users. If I have misspoke in any way I expect someone from Inventables (maybe @Zach_Kaplan) to correct me.

Personally, I grow weary of people acting like the sky is falling with statements like “they are forcing us…” or “Easel is going away” or “cash grab” or even “milking the user base”. They have offered a good product at a good price and done good by us with the way they stand by it. I think Easel Pro has room to grow as a product and I have no doubt it will.

7 Likes
18

Thank you Larry for doing the only sensible thing, which is just ask zach (or the inventables team) for clarification.

There’s no use in discussing how we each interpret the information. This discussion is just speculation upon speculation until someone from Inventables clears things up.

I’m especially curious about their stance towards second hand users and ShapeOko users such as myself.

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@JeffTalbot any insight into this? Not the free days rolling over but the qualifier for getting free days.

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I have a home built CNC (Arduino / GRBL based) and use Easel frequently due to conveniance.
I have never purchased a single Inventables product. (nothing against them, just being in Europe make other channels easier to shop from)

I am on my first day of Easel Pro use (Free day, 24hr “window” start when I start a Pro carve)

21

Hi Justin,

What are you asking for clarification on exactly? What is your concern?

Jeff

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Oh, secondhand machine purchase? The spirit of the 4 free days is if you are a machine owner you can use 4 free days per month. If you purchase a machine secondhand you are still a machine owner.

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How is the “machine owner” part verified?

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Hi Justin,

We are still in the process of implementing that.

Jeff