How are these comparisons put together?

Every competitor figure is read out of that manufacturer’s own published document, which each page cites. Figures measured the same way are compared directly. Figures that share a unit but were measured differently — a unidirectional repeatability against a bidirectional one, a closed-loop positioning accuracy against an open-loop one — are put in a separate table with the difference spelled out, because that is where specification errors in this category come from.

Do these stages beat the brands they are compared with?

Not generally, and the pages say where they do not. These are open-loop stepper stages: they carry no position feedback, and the supplied catalogue publishes no backlash figure, no minimum incremental motion, and does not state whether its repeatability figures are unidirectional or bidirectional. Thorlabs, PI and Zaber publish all of those. What these stages compete on is price, availability without a lead time, and on several published like-for-like figures, speed and payload.

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Comparisons

Compared against Thorlabs, PI, Zaber

Five model-for-model comparisons, each built from the other manufacturer's own published document rather than from a specification we typed in ourselves.

The comparisons

what each one concludes

Compared with	Our stage	Where we are stronger	Where they are
Thorlabs MTS25-Z8	CYGX60-0801-25-42 25 mm · 60×60 mm	4× the maximum velocity, on the same 25 mm and the same 1 mm screw lead	Closed loop, 12 kg against our 7, and a revision-controlled manual
Thorlabs MTS50-Z8	CYGX80-0802-50-42 50 mm · 80×100 mm	Nearly 2× the payload and 8× the velocity, both published like-for-like	Closed loop, and a documented specification for a qualification file
Thorlabs PT1-Z8 Discontinued	CYGX60-0801-25-42 25 mm · 60×60 mm	Discontinued 22 March 2024 — a like-for-purpose axis you can still buy	Closed loop, a published backlash figure, and the PT1 mounting interface
PI M-111.12S	CYGXN40-0601-15-28 15 mm · 40×40 mm	10× the maximum velocity and 4 kg against their 30 N (≈ 3.1 kg)	0.1 µm unidirectional repeatability, 2 µm backlash, 0.05 µm minimum move
Zaber X-LSM025A	CYGX60-0801-25-42 25 mm · 60×60 mm	Price, on an axis doing fixturing rather than metrology. That is the whole case	Built-in controller, 250 N in either orientation, 26 mm/s, and three figures we do not publish

Send the competitor model you are replacing Filter by travel, payload and repeatability

How these are built

read this before you use a number

The rule these pages follow is worth stating before you read one.

Two numbers with the same unit are not comparable unless they were measured the same way, and this category is full of pairs that look comparable and are not. A unidirectional repeatability against a bidirectional one. A positioning accuracy taken on a closed-loop servo against one taken on an open-loop stepper. A drive's axial force against a platform's payload. Quoting those against each other is the commonest specification error here, and it is also the easiest way to write a comparison that wins on paper and loses the moment an engineer checks it.

So each page has two tables. One for figures measured the same way, where the wins and the losses are both real. One for figures that share a unit and nothing else, where the page says so and tells you not to design to ours until engineering confirms the basis.

Three gaps apply to every page here. The supplied catalogue publishes no backlash figure and no minimum incremental motion for any linear stage, and does not say whether its ± repeatability figures are unidirectional or bidirectional. Thorlabs, PI and Zaber publish all three. That is stated on every comparison rather than left for you to notice.

Sources

what the competitor figures are read from

Publisher	Document	Note
Thorlabs	MTS25-Z8 and MTS50-Z8 Brushed DC Motorized Translation Stages, HA0210T Rev K July 2021	Manufacturer user manual, Chapter 5 Specifications.
PI (Physik Instrumente)	M-110 · M-111 · M-112 Compact Micro-Translation Stage datasheet, R3 10/09/15.0 2008, Technical Data table	Manufacturer datasheet. Loads are published in newtons; the conversion to kilograms is shown wherever it is used.
Zaber Technologies	X-LSM series product and specification pages Read 18 September 2026	Manufacturer product pages. Thrust and load are published in newtons; the conversion to kilograms is shown wherever it is used.
Thorlabs	Z806, Z812, Z812B and Z825B — Z800 Series Motorized DC Servo Actuator, 17630-D01 Part 3, Specifications	Manufacturer manual for the actuator fitted to the PT1-Z8. It specifies the actuator; the stage it drives is specified separately.

We do not reprint other manufacturers' drawings or images. Confirm the current revision of any figure against its publisher before you design to it, and confirm ours in the quotation before you order.

Before you use any of it

how to read a specification

Resolution, repeatability and positioning accuracy are three different numbers and are routinely quoted as if they were one.How to read the specifications sets out which figures on this site are transcribed, which are derived, and which are not confirmed at all.