This desktop laser might just be the easiest laser engraver to get started with

It wasn't that long ago when laser engravers had a somewhat agricultural look to them, with most of them based around an industrial-style gantry with no enclosure, which wasn't exactly inspiring to look at.

Thankfully, things are changing, and more and more of the best laser cutters and engravers ship enclosed with rather nicer aesthetics. The Toocaa Nova is one such machine that could happily live in any office or studio, without standing out like a sore thumb, thanks to its subtle aesthetic (if you can forgive the orange-tinted glass).

Toocaa has taken the approach of making lasers more accessible and intuitive with the Nova, stating a large number of benefits, but how does it stack up in reality?

Having owned and used many laser engravers, at both ends of the budget and everything in between, I was curious to discover what the Toocaa Nova has to offer. I've been using it for around three months now, and here's what I have found during my time testing this beginner-friendly desktop engraver.

Toocaa Nova: Price

Starting at $699 / £640, the Toocaa Nova is very well-priced against its competition. It's still a bit of an investment, but within reach of the beginner or enthusiast. Keep in mind that the price will go up if you start adding accessories like a rotary module or increasing the laser from 10 watts to 20 watts, at which point the price will be closing in on a thousand pounds.

With that said, for a lot of users, this cost will be well worth it, as the extra capabilities make quite a difference. I would also consider spending a little extra for an extractor or air filter, especially if you plan to use it in an enclosed space or home office.

Toocaa Nova: Setup and build quality

The Nova ships almost completely ready to use, with very little setup involved. Under the covers, it's still a gantry-based laser, but it looks fantastic on a desk, with sleek, clean lines, and some nifty extras.

I find myself saying this a lot when I talk about new tech, but there's a reason for that. Some companies still expect users to spend an hour putting machines together, and that can be frustrating, with the risk of damaging screw threads or misaligning components. I think these days should be long behind us, and props to Toocaa for delivering a quick out-of-the-box experience.

Very little was needed to get started, guided by a very comprehensive printed guide. Two screws to fix the laser module in place, pop the exhaust hose and cables on the back, and it's good to go. There's a hidden toolbox inside the Nova, where you can stash the hex wrench and a cleaning cloth, too. Nice touch.

There's a nice metal grid to place your materials on that perfectly fits the Nova's A4 working area. It's a three-piece grid, so very easy to fit and remove.

The quality of materials is worth a mention here, too. The plastic body is high quality, with a nice texture and the internals all seem similarly well built. The design is nice too, and doesn't look at all out of place in my office, where usually I set lasers up out of the way in another room. I like the soft colour-coded light that spills on the desktop from under the front edge. The colours tell you what is going on at a glance, but there is a full colour screen to one side of the top face, where you can access settings.

The orange hood does a good job of protecting your eyes while keeping dust out of the machine, and it's also home to a large white light and a camera, used for aligning your materials with your designs. It's great to see a good light here, as often it can be tricky to see what's going on, even in a well-lit room.

All in all, with the Toocaa Nova you get a well-designed, attractive and high-quality machine for the price you pay. Its size will certainly be appealing to anyone considering this machine as a more portable option for trade shows (though it's not as slimline as the xTool F series for engraving on the go).

Toocaa Nova: Performance

Once everything is plugged in, you might think you need to start installing software. But that isn't the case with the Toocaa Nova (unless you opt for something third-party, like LightBurn), as this laser is primarily web-based. All you need to do is connect the Nova to your computer, either by USB or Wi-Fi, and you are ready to go.

One note on this, when I first tried it, I used a USB connection, on Safari, and that worked flawlessly. However, once I had a bit of a reshuffle in my office, the Nova was too far away, so I switched to Wi-Fi, and it simply wouldn't connect.

I tried using Chrome, and was prompted to add an extension, and then it was back to connecting and working perfectly, so keep in mind that not all browsers will give you the same experience. It's a small thing, but it had me scratching my head for a bit.

Toocaa Studio is a simple but effective piece of software which enables you to take a snapshot of your working area, so you can align your designs with your material. There are options for text, shapes, images and an AI engine for generative work. You can easily group and ungroup elements of your design to aid in the ease of placement and blank material scale, etc

A handy trick when setting Laser parameters for different materials is also down to the camera. If you use Toocaa's materials, they come with a label. Pop the material in the Nova and the camera will recognise the label and apply the best power and speed settings for optimum results. These materials may cost a little extra but could be well worth it, especially for beginners.

If you are manually adjusting settings, it is still a pretty simple operation. There is a library of presets built into Toocaa Studio, or you can input your own. All straightforward. Once your design is finished, you can assign a layer colour to different elements, and then define whether those layers are filled, lines, or cuts, making it easy to create fairly complex designs with ease.

When you're done, hit the autofocus button to make sure the Z axis is set, then the frame button to double-check the alignment of the design with your material, and then you are able to send it to the Nova and start cutting.

Some materials create more fumes than others, but even for the less obnoxious ones, I'd suggest venting to a filter or at least out of the window. While cutting, there's minimal noise, which is good. It's similar to a normal paper printer, not intrusive at all.

The Nova, much like many other laser cutters, ships with an air assist. This is an essential accessory that uses a steady feed of air to prevent scorching of your materials, and in the Nova's case, it works very well, with soft woods coming out with very clean lines.

Toocaa Nova: Test prints

I've amassed quite a collection of materials to tinker with and test with laser engraving, and wanted to check how the Nova works with a good selection. I started out with wood, as I think that's probably the most common, and I wanted to see how much burning there might be, along with checking the clarity of any images produced.

I used a simple square piece of basswood, meant for creating coasters. I wanted to push this, so rather than doing a text or graphic, I imported a photo into Toocaa studio, set the material preset and ran the laser. I've done this many times on many devices and was expecting to need to tweak settings a little to get the result I wanted, but in this case, the results really did speak for themselves. No tweaking was needed, so Toocaa has done a stellar job on dialling in the settings.

This carried over to my next test, which was to engrave a steel dog tag. I've done these before, however, usually using aluminium, with a coating of some kind. But seeing as this was a 20-watt laser, I thought I'd push it a bit to test if I would get a clean, filled engraving, rather than a simple outline.

Now, my alignment is a bit off, as you can see from the image above, but that's on me for not using the framing button before starting. Doing that shows a clear, bright border for your job, directly on the material, so you can double-check placement before you begin engraving. Oops.

The result produced is fantastic, though. It's clear, crisp and clean. Exactly what I wanted. I wouldn't expect the Nova to actually cut metal thicker than, say, an aluminium business card, though. For that, you'll need something with a fibre laser option, like XTool's F-series ultra models.

I needed to make a stencil for spray painting a logo for a friend, and I was going to use my Loklik cutter for this (one of the best Cricut alternatives on the market), but I decided I would try cutting some paper using the Nova instead.

My first attempt wasn't great, but I realised that was because the air assist was blowing the paper slightly. I weighted the corners of the second attempt, and it came out perfectly, using the craft paper cutting preset. No burning at all, just a very crisp, clean cut, and so much quicker than using a bladed cutter and no need to deal with peeling it either!

Who is it for?

The Toocaa Nova is a versatile laser which can take on a wide variety of tasks, from simple wood engraving to acrylic and metal cutting. The option of a 20-watt module makes it powerful enough for more heavy-duty jobs, so it would suit the enthusiastic maker with more demanding needs.

That said, the learning curve is minimal, operation is very simple, and the form factor means it will suit home and office use too, making it ideal for casual users and beginners too. The Nova is a competent all-rounder.

Buy it if

• You’re looking for your first laser engraver
• You are planning mostly smaller projects

Don't buy it if

• You need to cut lots of metal or thicker materials
• You plan to work on larger-scale projects