As a shop that runs a Kongsberg i-XL24, I can say that it appears that Esko started from a router and then expanded with cutting capabilities. Another shop here has basic Zund cutting tables; looking at the G3, it seems that Zund went the opposite direction, adding routing capabilities to a cutting machine. From what I remember, the router on the Zund doesn't have as much power as the XL router, so it limits you on substrates a little more; but it's also much more precise.
Our Kongsberg (with the MultiCut head) has two tool slots plus the router. However, you can only use some tools in a specific slot.
We've always had issues getting our machine to do the kind of fine edge cutting that is a breeze on a Zund. Whenever there is anything with very fine detail on adhesive vinyl (such as small text), the machine likes to make a pig's breakfast out of it.
The other thing you have to mind is that belt condition is paramount. The worse the belt gets (usually from routing stuff) the more it affects both routed and cut jobs.
The router is definitely more powerful on kongsberg, (3 kw vs 1.5 kw I think?) but honestly from what I gathered unless you are doing tons and tons of 3/5" thick acrylic or wood or other super thick, beefy substrates, not sure how relevant it is in the graphics world. We sort of landed on the idea cutting/routing speed is limited by how beefy your bit is and how accurate you want your cuts anyway. During our demo the operator tried to push the router speed when cutting some MDF, and snapped a bit almost instantly because it got pushed too hard. We did specific tests on 3/4" acrylic both machines...(cutting what we considered the fastest, sell-able speed) and yeah, the kongsberg was slightly faster but only by a few seconds. The zund reads dots way faster though, so sometimes it's a wash.
You also need a wrench to change the tools on xl machines. (you need a wrench to change router bits on the zund, but I think we would do that less than changing the main tools)
Technically the kongsberg has 2 tool slots, but correct me if I'm wrong can't you only use like a plotter pen or something similar in one of the slots? Useless for us, another reason we chose zund but again both are excellent pieces of kit and really couldn't go wrong either way.
It was a tough call for us with tons of research involved, now that it's done we can't wait to get our new baby!
