Hi,
I go with Tweakie on this one, like him I have an Ethernet connected Smoothstepper and luv it! It has both Mach3 and Mach4
plugins so if you want to try Mach4 just download the plugin and have at it!. No cost involved.
The UC100, in fact the entire UCnnn range have a great reputation and many thousands of Mach3 users. To my knowledge they
don't have a Mach4 plugin and all their devices are USB connected only.
PMDX have a number of boards all USB connected and at least two which have Mach3 and Mach4 plugins. The head honcho at PMDX
is a regular contributor on the forum and an absolute whiz at anything Mach. PMDX customer support is legend.
A more recent player in the 'value external motion controller' market is PoKeys. They have both USB and Ethernet connected examples
some with both Mach3 and Mach4 plugins.
CSlabs, Vital Systems, Dynamotion and Galill all make great controllers but are more angled to the pro market and are a lot more expensive
but all VERY good. Have a look and drool!
There are still more manufacturers, a lot of Chinese suppliers, and they crop up in the forum quite a bit, usually because buyers are struggling
to get them to work and/or the manufacturer don't back them up. I may be guilty here of painting all such manufacturers with a 'black brush'
when there are some who are really trying to do the right thing. Too many people have paid up their bucks to these outfits mainly because
they're cheap only to find they end up with rubbish. If you buy 'real cheap' don't be surprised if it turns out you're disappointed.
Craig