(newbie) Solid Edge vs Solidworks?

[pkelecy]

I know this topic has been discussed before (probably many times) but as products keep changing I think it's worth asking again.

I'm a mechanical engineer with my own business but a newbie to CAD/Solid Modeling. I orignally had a contractor working for me who did this (with ProE), but he is no longer available (now working full time at another firm). So I've decided to try to take over some of this work myself, and am trying to decide on a package to use.

After reading a number of reviews/posts I've narrowed my choices down to SE, SW, and maybe AD (Alibre Design). I plan to use it mainly for machine design types of applications. We do mostly R&D work here, and a lot of that involves constructing prototypes made from machined parts. I also do a lot of proposal writing which involves developing simple (but clear) concept illustrations of design ideas. So I was hoping the same CAD tool could reasonbly serve both purposes (i.e. be reasonbly efficient and flexible to use).

Although I know this is a SE forum (and perhaps biased :^) I also know (after reading through quite a few posts) that a lot of the folks here have used SW extensively and perhaps could comment on which one might be better for the types of work I do. I'll probably post on the SW and AD forums to get their perspective, but this group seems to be pretty balanced, based on the posts I've seen.

Thanks for any feedback/opinions on this. I appreciate it.

Pat

 

[SBaugh]

I never said leave the experienced user out. I just said it makes easier for the new user to decide if it will work for them and if they need help to contact their AE to help them. This is what we do to make a sale. Let the user use it for awhile and if they have any questions they contact the AE.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376