Hello,
I'm a happy user of AgnosPCB and I have to say that many of the comments here are not exactly fair. I do own a professional AOI machine from Mirtec, and those machines cost around $90-120K brand new, depending on the accessories. So paying $2K is a joke (assuming it works correctly as advertised, right?). Well, to be fair, my AOI is in-line, so you can probably shove $15K if you get a bench version (But I think Mirtec no longer makes them).
When I started using Agnos with a laptop and the Sony camera (using the Sony software), I realized the potential, however, the user experience was very bad. There is no way my operators will ever use it because they are always in a hurry. So I'm honored to say that I'm the one that has been pushing/begging Agnos to automate the process and the latest version achieves that(day and night difference). However I opted to make my own setup, also using the T-Slots, to be honest, depending on your country it might and not might be worthed, I spent like 5-6 days figuring out a good setup, and if you factor the salary of an eng. in California plus the parts, it would've been probably cheaper just to get it from them.
After several months we finally received the update, now the process became fully automated. Just press one button and you are done. It is SO good, that I even stopped using my Mirtec, and yes, you will say whatever, but anyone is welcome to visit my shop here in San Diego, California, and try it (and I mean it, we like visitors). ;-)
A friend of mine based in Colorado that owns the biggest web electronic shop, that makes most of the dev board in red color and starts with "S" also has one because I recommended it. He had a very bad initial experience, but after having a quick video call I figured his issue was because the camera was very high and slightly out of focus, after ironing those tiny details he was impressed that it was able to catch errors not even the Nordson AOI could.
Very, very important points to consider:
->Always use the same illumination (crucial).
->Use a Sony Alpha Camera (we tried Canon and no).
->Always place the panel at the position and height. +- few millimeters it is ok.
->Use the automated system (don't do it manually, it is really not practical and yields very bad results). If there is anything I can advise to Agnos, is to ban any users from using their phones and not good quality setups. You need to keep it simple, an environment with repeatable conditions in order to offer a good user experience. Otherwise what I'm reading here will continue to happen, which leads to a loss of interest and customers (and sadly, the support of what I believe is a great innovative product).
->I guess that experience has something to do here, so if you have never used a Professional AOI, then some of the fundamentals (like good illumination) are not really clear, so don't be afraid to ask.