Small and portable doesn't mean weak. In summer 2025 I spent time with the NEJE 5, a compact 12 W diode engraver that was ready five minutes after I opened the box, and it kept surprising me on wood, metal and leather.
Ready in five minutes
I'd planned a whole afternoon for setup and was engraving after 5 minutes. There's no assembly: the NEJE 5 arrives as you see it, with the laser already plugged in. Connect power and USB, and LightBurn found it in a second. It engraves a 17 x 17 cm area with a real 12 W diode laser. You can feel the quality as soon as you pick it up. It's one solid piece of stainless steel with an acrylic base, and two stepper motors drive the rail the laser moves on.
Focus is set with a dial and a flat screwdriver. The instructions suggest 2.5 mm, and I found my sweet spot at about 2 cm from the material with 2.5 mm on the rod. Everyone says to change the focus for cutting, but when I did, the dot got bigger and lost focus. So I cut with the same setting, and it worked perfectly. If you know what I was doing wrong, I'd love to hear it.
What I engraved
My first logo test was too strong and burned the wood. At 1,000 speed and 25% power it came out beautifully, about half a millimetre deep in plywood. The Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz at 1,000 speed and 30% had a lovely 3D effect when you tilt it. 3 mm plywood cut like butter at 500 speed and full power. I did two passes, but I'm sure one was enough. All of that was without air assist: there's a tube, but the pump is sold separately.
A black-coated aluminium business card took 7 minutes at 800 speed and 25%. My first cards like this, on another machine, took an hour or more. Uneven stainless steel engraved at full power and 300 mm/s. The best result was on an old leather wallet of mine. At 1,000 speed and 50%, even the tiny "3D Print Geek" text under my logo, not even 3 mm tall, was readable.
Versatility
If I had to describe it in one word, it's versatility. You can throw it in a bag, take it to a friend's place, engrave a table, or even mount it on a wall using its holes. I'm not getting rid of this one.