Looking for advice first machine purchase, HDZ upgrade worth it?

We’ve finally decided to get a desktop CNC and have settled on the Shapeoko Pro XXL. I’ve been seeing a lot of people who are giving the HDZ upgrades very good reviews and I’m considering adding it from the start just so I don’t have to take it apart and upgrade it later if I decide it’s something I want to do. Also, right now the HDZ upgrade is on sale for around $382 and that seems like another good reason to go ahead and add it now rather than later.

I’m just curious to see what others think, is the HDZ worth it compared to the stock Z-Plus on the Pro? We plan start learning initially with wood, but I would like to move into aluminum as well down the road.

I’ve had a SO3 and currently a SO4 and SOPro. Honestly, unless you need a slight bit more precision in Z (like a couple of thousandths maybe) or are installing a heavy spindle, I don’t think you’ll see any benefit with the HDZ. I personally don’t plan on an HDZ unless if/when I go with a spindle.

Now…on my SO3 it was a huge upgrade over the belt driven Z. But the Z-Plus SO4 and SOPro has 90% of the benefits of the HDZ.

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Thanks for the response. That was kinda my thoughts as well, if it was a SO3 with belts I would have definitely done the upgrade, but since the Z-plus already has a lead screw I wasn’t really sure how much more benefit I would see other that the added Z travel.

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@SLCJedi is dead on. I would only go with the HDZ if you are trying to get pretty accurate while cutting metals or if you want to put a spindle larger than 800W on your machine. The Z-Plus is great and is a big step up from the old belt driven style. The only thing I really noticed when I went from the Z-Plus to the HDZ was a pretty decent improvement when I bore holes in aluminum.

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I have a so3 with hdz. The hdz is great.
The belt z did not cut it. I also have a so3 xl with z-plus. The z-plus works great but with makita and/or c3d router the z cannot touch the baseboard with short endmills. If you add a supplemental spoilboard the z-plus works fine but you give up 3/4 inch z height. If you calculate the life of the machine at 10 years the added cost is not much per year. If you are getting a pro then go all the way. The makita and c3d routers are shorter than the dewalt. The 69mm dewalt has gone out of favor in the last two or so years but is a good option if you get the 69mm mount instread of the 65 mm mount for makita or c3d routers. The makita router and c3d routers can run slightly slower than the dewalt.
If you getting a 80mm spindle then get the 80 mm mount from the get go.

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