I’m not the ‘busiest’ of CNC hobbyists, but I haven’t really used Meshcam since I got VCarve Pro. The latter produces very respectable 3D toolpaths, and does so much more. Meshcam isn’t design software, it just produces toolpaths from preexisting models.
And the collection of 2D/3D clipart, etc that comes with VCarve can get you making really cool stuff right away, it totally redefines “quick and dirty”. I designed this project from scratch in about fifteen minutes using only what came with the Vectric software:
It is like using PowerPoint to slap together a professional-looking presentation in a few minutes; but then you generate toolpaths, run the job, and get an object.
One thing Meshcam does better is defining machining/keepout regions, and (though I guess the newest version of VCarve does this) two-sided machining. Meshcam is great software but it basically does one thing only: generate toolpaths from a preexisting design.
Meshcam is “free” with Nomad but not with Shapeoko. I owned my Nomad for about a year before I bought my Shapeoko XXL. If a job is small enough for Nomad and accuracy is important at all I’ll usually use Nomad: it is just so much less “fussy” than Shapeoko, even if you could technically tweak the latter to do the same job faster (more powerful spindle) with almost the same accuracy. I’ve easily spent as much time fiddling with the Shapeoko as I have making projects; while Nomad pretty much just works. But the XXL is a monster!
They are all pretty amazing tools for the price. It just depends on exactly what you are trying to accomplish.