Bricscad - the good, the bad and the ugly

[dacotua09]

I am a small operator and looking to cut some costs, especially with the tough economy weighing heavily on my operation. I am considering a move to Bricscad from AutoCAD but would appreciate some honest feedback from those who have made the switch partially/or fully. I am especially interested in the bad and the ugly to help me better gauge the risks.

Thanks in advance

 

[PeterCharles]

I know nothing of Bricscad, but if times are hard with money short for AutoCAD then maybe this link will help ...

http://www.doublecad.com/

 

[civeng80]

Sorry I cant be very specific because its been a while since I tried Briscad and Turbocad also. The hard fact was it just doesn't perform like Autocad.

I made it policy for my organisation to stick with Autocad because it is simply the best in the market. The long history of Autocad has a lot to do with it too.

Although the capital cost is higher in the lond term you have a superior product.

 

[PeterCharles]

in the long term you have a superior product

... and nobody ever got fired for buying AutoCAD.

At least try out non-Autodesk products.

 

[civeng80]

PeterCharles

May for the fun of it look at doublecad free version.

Thanks.

 

[chicopee]

What type of business are you in Dacotua09?

 

[PeterCharles]

Don't forget to try this one :

http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/Images/fs_se_2d_drafting_tcm53-24085.pdf

 

[dacotua09]

chicopee,

I am in the civil site development business. I would also be interested if everyone knows of any civil applications have be ported to Bricscad. I am particularly interested in experience with the latest version of Brics as I understand there were issues in the past.

 

[MGXFP]

I know some civil guys who use LT just fine. If you know what you're doing LT can go a long way.

 

[royalfarros]

I'm biased because I run IMSI/Design, we've been making CAD software for a few decades now... most recently, we've released DoubleCAD XT (free) and DoubleCAD XT PRO.

I won't make specific product comparison comments. I will say that AutoCAD certainly is a good product... and no doubt is the standard in the industry. AutoCAD LT certainly benefits from being under the AutoCAD umbrella.

But -- especially in tough times like now -- there really are solid, reliable, .DWG alternatives.

People used to say, "Only buy a Cadillac"... then GM somehow got off track... and a few imported brands took the torch and ran with it. We hope you'll give we .DWG alternatives a try... lots of really great reasons -- and features difference that make your job easier/more productive -- to do so.

 

[PeterCharles]

There's nothing wrong with ACAD LT, but since Autodesk has hiked it's price more in percentage terms than full ACAD, if you only need the basic LT functions why pay more than you have to?

 

[MiketheEngineer]

I love TurboCad and it can export its files to MANY different types. And it is CHEAP!! They are on version 15.something - but you can find older versions for almost nothing on E-bay. Stay with the odd numbered versions - seem to work better - not sure why. I still use 11.1 on a day to day basis - all I need.

 

[royalfarros]

We're set to release TurboCAD v16 in a few weeks. Testers think it's the best one in about five years. (Disclaimer: I work for IMSI/Design.)