Boyne Valley Laser Studio
xTool F2 Ultra UV vs F2 Ultra Dual: which one for your work?
Both are flagship galvos, but they're built for almost opposite jobs. Here's how to decide which xTool F2 Ultra you actually need.
Buying advicexToolEquipment
xTool now sells two flagship galvos: the F2 Ultra Dual (60W MOPA fibre + 40W diode) and the F2 Ultra UV (a true 355 nm UV source). They look almost identical. They do very different work.
Pick the F2 Ultra Dual if…
- Your bread and butter is metal — corporate gifts, awards, jewellery, branded tumblers, tools.
- You want colour marking on titanium and steel.
- You need to switch between metal and dark-coated materials in the same job without changing machines.
- Your customers ask for deep, tactile marks.
Pick the F2 Ultra UV if…
- You work with glass — perfume bottles, decanters, awards, presentation pieces.
- You mark plastics — including clear acrylic, polycarbonate housings, medical components.
- Heat damage is the enemy: leather, fabric, paper labels, food-contact packaging.
- You're chasing very fine detail at small scale — UV's short wavelength focuses to a finer spot than fibre or diode.
Where they overlap (and where they don't)
Both will mark anodised aluminium and both will mark coated metals. Beyond that, they barely overlap. The UV is not a metal engraver — it'll surface-mark some metals weakly but you won't get a deep functional mark. The Dual is not a glass machine — you'll get chipping, microcracks and frustration.