What the xTool P2S is and who it's for
The P2S is xTool's 55W desktop CO2 laser, the 2024 refresh of the P2 that added a second camera and a sharper LiDAR ranging system. Its bed is 600 x 305 mm, its top engraving speed is 600 mm/s, and xTool sells it from $2,999 on its own site as of 7 September 2026, with retailers such as STEMfinity still listing the earlier $3,399 figure.
The P3 is the reason this review exists in 2026 — an 80W tube, a 915 x 458 mm bed, a 1,200 mm/s top speed and a Class 1 rating, starting at $6,999. The P2S gives you 183,000 square millimetres of bed for $2,999 (about 1.6 cents per mm2); the P3 gives you 419,000 mm2 for $6,999 (about 1.7 cents). Per unit of bed you pay about the same, so the question is whether you need the extra power and bed size at all — most home shops do not.
How this xTool P2S review was built
How this review was built
- No P2S bought or run — this is a research-based review
- Every figure from xTool's product and support pages, retailer listings, Glowforge's pricing pages, and FDA laser classification guidance
- Prices and policies checked on 7 September 2026 in USD
- Where xTool makes a claim Shoptera cannot verify from a second source (e.g. Glowforge's ~141mm/s engraving figure), the text says "xTool states"
- Score weighs cutting capacity per dollar (40%), bed size and pass-through (25%), software/camera workflow (20%), and safety/warranty/returns (15%)
55 W of CO2 cuts 20 mm acrylic in one pass
xTool rates the P2S to cut 20 mm clear acrylic and 18 mm black walnut in a single pass. For scale, the 40W diode in xTool's own S1 is rated for 15 mm dark acrylic and 18 mm cherry, and a diode cannot cut clear acrylic at all. Glowforge's 40W Plus HD and 45W Pro HD publish a maximum material height of 2 in (50 mm) but no single-pass cut depth on the pages checked.
The catch is the tube — CO2 glass tubes lose power over their life, and xTool publishes a 10,000-hour rating for the P3's tube but no equivalent figure on the P2S page. The warranty covers the tube for 12 months and specifically excludes outward rupture, including cracks from freezing.
600 x 305 mm of bed, 118 in with the feeder
The bed is 600 x 305 mm, which fits a standard 24 x 12 in craft sheet with 4mm to spare on the short side and none on the long side. With the $459 Automatic Conveyor Feeder it becomes a system handling material from 65 to 624 mm wide, up to 14 mm plywood, and a rated processing length of 118 in — though the feeder ships with rails that support hard material only up to 39 in, so longer stock needs extra rails sold separately.
Without the riser base the P2S takes material under 30 mm. With the $499 Riser Base the limit rises to 208 mm with the tray in or 215 mm without it, across nine placement levels, which is what makes tumblers and thick blocks possible.
16MP dual camera and 0.001 in LiDAR
Two cameras — a wide 16MP unit for placing designs on the whole bed and a close-range camera rated at 0.3 mm placement precision — plus a LiDAR ranging sensor with a stated 0.001 in resolution for focus. Glowforge does the same with its wide-angle and macro cameras, so this is table stakes at the price, not an advantage. The advantage is elsewhere: XCS runs over USB with no internet connection, and the P2S also accepts LightBurn — Glowforge's support pages state its machines need Wi-Fi and internet connectivity to print at all.
Class 4 standard, Class 1 optional
The FDA describes Class 1 as non-hazardous in normal use and Class 4 as an immediate skin and eye hazard from the direct or reflected beam. xTool's P3 page states the P3 is Class 1 and the P2S is Class 4, though a Class 1 variant of the P2S exists. In a home shop the standard Class 4 P2S runs behind an interlocked lid with an automatic lock, AI fire detection and an emergency stop — schools, makerspaces and anyone whose insurer asks should order the Class 1 variant and confirm the certificate before purchase.
What the P2S costs to actually run
What the competition does better
The P3 does everything the P2S does at twice the speed on a bed 2.3 times the size, adds a Class 1 rating and an optional 5W IR module for metal, for $4,000 more. The OMTech Polar Lite, at $1,999.99 against a $2,499.99 list, is $999 cheaper than the P2S for the same 55W tube but gives up 90mm of bed width and 100mm/s of top speed — it does carry a 24-month warranty against xTool's 12. Glowforge's Pro HD costs $7,999 with lower rated power, but wins on the out-of-box path: Proofgrade material with QR-coded presets and a browser app, at the cost of needing internet to print and a Premium design tier at $50/mo.