Just for clarity, the BB controller does allow you to pause/resume (aka - pause a job, and click play again, and resume). It all depends on what you want to do during that “pause”. Some controllers let you jog around to say change a tool, or whatever, and resume - knowing where to go back to. To my knowledge BB does not.
One feature BB does not support though is feed override during a job (speed up/slow down overall travel speeds). This is fairly common in other controllers.
tl;dr - BB is fine for beginners, but can be finicky, if you’re a power user and tech savvy you’ll want more, if you just want to cut stuff out repeatedly works.
If you’re not experienced, or just want something “that works” - the BB controller is fine. If I didn’t have experience with so many other systems, and build out workflows and methods that relied on missing features it wouldn’t be an issue. If you like to experiment, and don’t mind the extra time required to build out and setup a new controller, go for it.
As for options:
Hobby (these all include drivers on the boards)
- OpenBuilds
- CNC-xPro-v5 (I’m currently working with this one, and building out documentation, and adapter cables, brackets for limit switches, etc.)
- TinyG
Mid-Grade
- CentroidCNC Acorn (will need drivers - Gecho G540 is highly recommended) - I use this system on a converted Benchtop mill (SX3 / G0619) - Love it!
- Masso G3 - (haven’t used, but heard great things from other conversions)
- DDCS All-in-one - (one of the other users is using this)
Just a few options, there are many hobby grade / 3D Printer style controllers out there as well, but I’d recommend something with good drivers (support for 2.8a Nema23).
The Pros/Cons go both ways, as it’s not just the controller, but what software does it support, and do you want to be tethered to a dedicated PC or not. Some have wifi, so you can control it from another system, tablet or whatever, others require dedicated software (Acorn). I could go on for days about all this, so feel free to DM me if you want more info.