Sorry but this may come across as more of a rant than a review.   If you do not want to read my rant read the background and skip to the summary but the rant section lays the foundation for my review.  

I am using one of their older 24x24" Next Wave (NW) Shark HD3 models (current top of line model are HD5) and I have managed to make it work well for me but not without limitations.  To some degree, that is expected with hobby CNC machines.   I actually bought mine cheap at a garage sale in 2019, IIRC.  It had been assembled and setup but never used or registered and the guy had spent probably over $1200 on accessories, bits and a Rockler stand.  I basically got everything for the price of the accessories.  What a deal.  I couldn't pass it up as I had been thinking about a CNC and even building one but this was a quicker, cheaper option to dip a toe into the water that required little technical knowledge.  I had seen their machines in Woodcraft and Rockler so thought it would be good enough for a first machine.  When I called NW to register the serial number (required to make it work), the guy told me that it had never been registered before.  I think that the HD5 series had just come out replacing the HD4 series so the guy was very surprised to get a first time registration on an HD3.   Even though I had a generally positive experience using the machine, I have always had mixed reviews about the Next Wave CNC (formerly NW Automation) hardware and software approach but that has finally hit the wall for me; hence, my following rant.  

In the interest of full disclosure, I have actually had a pretty good experience with the machine.  For a beginner, the NW approach provides a simple way to get started without diving into tons of mechanical, electronics and software configuration details.  That is not to say that there isn't a learning curve, especially on the software and design side but they definitely lower some of the hurdles that some more advanced platforms may require.  The smartest thing that they did was include the basic version of  Vectric Vcarve Desktop which is an industry leader for basic 2.5D design with some 3D carving capabilities built in so for most beginners at least, it will give you most of what you think you want to do with a CNC with no more software investment.  By watching online tutorials and YouTube gurus, and using free or purchased clip art or even designing your own 3D objects in another CAD program, you can pretty much 3D carve anything within the limits of the machine.  One of the first tests I did was to carve a 3D fish using free clip-art provided with Vcarve.   Vcarve is fairly easy to learn, has tons of  online tutorials, both by Vectric and 3rd parties, and is well supported by the company and its online forums (more about forums in the worse section).  There is hardly (never?) a week where there isn't something new posted by Vectric or a 3rd party YouTuber.  VCarve is worthy of separate 5 star review, though there is plenty of good info about them all over the internet so you probably do not need my impressions about them other than what I stated above.   I only mention it here because it is part of the turnkey solution and without it,  NW CNC would not exist and is largely why I was able to be successful with it.  

The NW Shark CNC machines comes partially assembled and only  requires fairly simple final assembly, and cable hookups.  The HD models are fairly large and bulky and is best done with two people but they have smaller footprint machines that can probably be handled alone.  The instructions are concise and easy to follow, largely because they did enough of the assembly upfront so that all that is left is simple.  The assembly required is largely due to shipping constraints.   The older model that I have uses a PC to run the CAM process using a USB cable between the PC and the machine's control  box and as long as you have a good USB connection it works as it should.   They actually do have an upgrade path that allows you to use a new medallion based  control unit  ($500 when in stock) similar to the ones on their latest machines that eliminates the PC connection and you just use USB drives to transfer the Gcode to the control box.   I considered the medallion upgrade but for reasons below, will no longer.  

  /*begin rant */  

From the beginning,  my biggest complaint has been that they use a 100% proprietary hardware approach.  First, you cannot use the machine without registering the machine's serial number with their proprietary PC control box and CAM software through their website.  This makes no sense other than proprietary control as I doubt that it would even be possible to use their CAM software on another makers' control box.  It is supposed to be seamless via the internet but that didn't work for some reason so they had to email me some files to import manually.  Their phone support (back in 2019 at least) was easy to reach and it didn't take too long.  The CS tech was smart enough to ask about other accessories because I also had to register them with the control software to make them work.  The guy I bought from had purchased a touch plate accessory which is basically just a small hunk of aluminum and a speaker cable that plugs into existing ports on the control box but it won't work if you do not have the serial number you get when you purchased it (so do not lose it).    BTW, that $10-15 hunk of aluminum and $7 headphone jack with banana connector costs $120 on their website today, plus another $8 for an an extension you may need because the original cable may not be long enough depending upon where you place your control box.  Again, registration for the touch plate should have worked through the internet but also required them to give me special codes for me to enter manually.   When registering, the CS guy gave me a complimentary registration for their $100 virtual zero "add on" that is supposed to compensate for non-flat materials, like warped plywood for example but the couple of times I used it, actually made the toolpaths worse.  The registration basically just unlocks the code (a button on the screen) in the Windows control software.  Pretty crappy if you ask me.  Apparently, the complimentary add-on was just for a year and I got registration errors every time I started the control software after that.  Nice!  The guy I bought it from also had an add on circuit board for a 4th dimension rotary axis that came with a registration number but CS guy would not allow me to register it without actually having an NW rotary axis (and its registration number).  This must have been to prevent me from buying a 3rd party 4th axis for much less (about half less now) than they charge.  All of their accessories are priced based upon proprietary dependency usually resulting in double and sometimes approaching triple the cost to buy comparable stuff.  The goal is to keep it turnkey but also to sell at high prices.  They usually provide a few things that make their accessories easier to install and setup, eliminating most of the research and knowledge required to use a 3rd party solutions and I would be willing  to pay for those things in many cases but not at double or close to triple to avoid having to cut a cable to length and solder a few cable connections for example.  The real issue is being locked to their expensive proprietary options. 

The proprietary upgrades have always been something that I have warned others about but what prompted my rant today is that Next Wave shut down their online support forum about a week or so ago as of this writing.  The forum was always pretty lame and it could take weeks or even months for anyone to respond which lead to me not seeing a response because after a week of no responses and sometimes even no views, I would not go back myself for months.  I did get a couple of good answers over the years but they were usually too late to be useful.   I attempted every now and then to contribute by answering a few ignored questions myself.  I think I helped a couple of people but with so little activity, I stopped checking in as well and in some cases, probably due to getting no response until I bothered to, never got an acknowledgement that they even saw it much less a thanks, or follow up questions.     

I would not be surprised if spammers were at least contributing factor responsible for their decision to pull the plug on their forum.  I am sure that it had become a nuisance to clean up all of the spam because they were not willing to invest in verification and other blocking techniques needed.  I actually didn't visit enough to actually see the spam myself but I saw posts about it.  Frankly there wasn't much of it there when I was there right before the shutdown, so this is purely speculation on my part.   Between hosting costs, the cost of having an employee of a small company try to monitor and clean spam when needed and then having such a small user base, there probably weren't enough volunteer moderators to make it practical or cost effective to keep the forum operating.  The forum was hosted using the generic and free phpBB software that I am sure that most of you have seen.  Nothing special but it works and once you are familiar works pretty much the same everywhere it is used.  Frankly, I think that the real issue is that Next Wave did not support the forum.  I never saw someone tagged as an employee moderator answer questions or comment so they basically just relied on others to support their product forum, though admittedly, I could have missed those with my limited use of their forum.  I am sure the easy questions I asked could been been easily answered if someone from the company had just checked in at least once a week but never were.  I am not sure that they even posted company announcements on the forum (other than a few days notice about the shut down) but since it is shut down now I cannot verify that.  I certainly never went there looking for annoucements.  It wasn't spam or lack of interest by users that caused the forum to die on the vine.  It was absolute neglect by Next Wave.    

Rocker also hosts (hosted) the SharkTalk forum, which looks like they may have launched around the time they started selling NW CNC machines (2010?).  It also runs (ran) on the phpBB platform.  It has (maybe "had" by the time you read this) a better user base, much better than the NW official forum anyway.  It often took days to get a response, if there was going to be one, but there was some regular activity and some useful information, including new product announcements and other related things from Rockler.  I do not know for sure but I would assume that Rockler probably provided a lot of the initial support through the forum, at least until they had built up a "regular" user base.   When I visited lately, there were some regulars on the site answering a few questions and a couple of volunteer moderators talking about how much spam they had cleaned off the forum lately.  I tried to contribute a few times over the years but the site is pretty lightly traveled and since CNC was not the main thing I do, was not a constant area of concentration for me.  A day after the NW forum shut down, I noticed that Rockler announced they were closing SharkTalk on 3/14/25.   I am writing this on 3/16/25 and it is still working but they have removed all attachments and images and prevent new posts from adding new attachments so even if they closed it just for future posting, any useful attachments are gone, including one that was trying to get to based upon a web search.  The timing of Rockler shutting down their forum just days after they shut down the official NW one reeks of NW pulling their funding and support.    Not a good sign for a viable small company.  It would be different if they announced a future strategy going forward but the did not.  Just the shut down.  

The reason that I decided to rant now is that I decided a few weeks ago to upgrade my HD 3 from using a single warp speed Porter Cable Router to a water cooled spindle with VFD to give me more control of feeds and speeds and to seriously lower the noise level during long running jobs (I have a big experimental project planned).  The HD3 control box does not support anything but turning the router on and off so I went looking for information.  Along the way, that lead me back to the NW and Rockler forums only to find that they were both shutting down within days.   To use a full Next Wave supported solution I was also contemplating upgrading to their new medallion based control box that supported to their proprietary kit that includes a 3HP 2.2kw/110v  spindle, cooling system and 13amp VFD/inverter that allows software speed control but the total cost started looking closer to $1500-1800 by buying everything from Next wave.  Note that the math math on the specs doesn't appear to work for 2.2kw at 110v for most people.  If I did the math right, that calculates a max draw of 20 amps even without the VFD overhead, control box cooling solution and stepper motors.  That probably means you need at least 25 amps which generally means a  30 amp 110v circuit.  No way you will get full 3HP on the advertised the 15 amps circuit stated in the specs.  Interestingly, the last question I answered on the Sharktalk forum was that his new 3hp spindle only measures at 7 amps at full speed, though probably not under load.  I explained the math as I understand it and told him to call NW for clarification because the forum is shutting down.  (Of course if they shut Rockler's Shark talk down before he returns, he will never see my response.)  But I digress as rants often do.  Even if I had upgraded just the control box for $500, their "3HP"  spindle kit is another $1000-1200, depending upon options and if you do not buy  theirs, sticking with their proprietary approach, I assume that you cannot register a 3rd party spindle to enable software control so I might as well stick with my old HD3 control box.   

Aside: So going the independent route, so far I am at about $600-700 into the cost of a 240v 2.2kw spindle  with VFD kit and a much more robust cooling system.  That includes some peripheral upgrades like larger drag chains to accommodate water lines and heavy duty shielded spindle control cables.  That cost does not count other electrical shop upgrades to get a 240v circuit to that part of my shop but a 110v solution would not give me the full power of a 3HP spindle either.  My unregistered solution does not allow software control of RPM or even simply turning the spindle on and off (though I have what think is a $10 solution for the on/off issue using relays and capabilities of the VFD) but I will be able to manage the power and speed manually at the start of a job.  If I do decide I want the software speed control.  I have found solid 3rd party control boxes that would provide that for less than $500, including upgraded stepper motors, finally uncoupling me 100% from their proprietary model and leapfrogging capabilities such as adding limit switches, 4th D rotary axes, auto zeroing and other now standard capabilities of most modern CNC machines available for hobby use, some which are not possible with the even their HD5.    Kind of a no brainer.  

The final trigger for me is that as I was doing research, I realized that the cables for the touch plate were frayed and could cause a failure when setting the Z heights.  I considered just making a new cable using cheap parts from Amazon (probably less than $10) but decided to give a small business a break and order their way too expensive cables (more like 4 times more on this one).  The order was entered, the charge showed up on my card the next day and then nothing for 2 weeks:  no email order confirmation, no shipping notifications, no deliveries -- just silence...and no forum to ask if this was normal for them.  I used their online support request tool today (it is a weekend so they are closed and not answering the phone) and did get an auto email response so we will see what happens there.  Anyway, Good bye Next Wave CNC.  Unless my support response turns out to be to just cancel my order, it will be the last business I do with them.  

/* End rant*/  

I give Next Wave CNC a 2-Star Rating.   I initially started writing thinking that this a 1-star review because I am pretty angry about the forums, cost of proprietary upgrades and lack of communication regarding my recent purchase.  After writing the "good section" above, I realized that for a beginner who isn't like me and likes to dive into the gory details or afraid to make technical upgrades and because NW include the Vectric software for the purchase price, they deserve a 1 star upgrade.  As a newbie, I appreciated the lower tech startup and good software and that is what newbies need.  It was a good exercise to run through what I initially liked about my purchase (besides the great deal I got when I bought it).    I have used it successfully for over 5 years it is obviously not all bad.  

My goal here is not to trash the company, even though I probably talked some trash during my rant.  I have gotten questions about my machine over the years and have considered writing a review about their proprietary approach.  My goal is to help others see what they need to know before investing some hard earned cabbage into what may become an expensive and limited path forward.  They need to know that while the entry point may be cheaper than other hobby machines, the proprietary nature locks you into an expensive path if you want to expand or upgrade.  They need to know that it is a small company, which I actually like, but the proprietary approach creates a huge risk should  they not survive for whatever reason.  Even if your machine works just fine, selling it to someone else who cannot  register it with an out of business company may render it useless at some point without replacing all of the electronics on the machine.  For me, shutting down their forums is a red flag that makes me wonder about the viability of the company and considering the proprietary nature of the their business model is a significant risk.  Glitches and radio silence of my recent order just serve to reinforce my concern.  

For a relatively turnkey solution for a basic CNC setup, it has and may continue to be any easy entry point for beginners but if you want affordable expandability, upgrades and accessories and the ability to make your own upgrades, this may not be the way to go.   The proprietary nature of their platform is just too much of a risk to take in my opinion.  Heck, they could still be strong and viable but just clueless about optics but that is also not something I have want to worry about.  I need affordability and flexibility.  

**I will be happy to correct any misinformation or misunderstanding that comes to my attention.