What do you like best about the product?

Solid Edge supports a wide variety of CAD formats and is good at importing and editing files from other platforms like SolidWorks, Inventor, and Creo. It offers built-in finite element analysis (FEA), which is especially useful for smaller teams or individual designers who want to validate designs early without exporting to another tool.

What do you dislike about the product?

While Siemens has modernized parts of the interface, it still feels clunky in places compared to more polished, intuitive platforms like Fusion 360 or even SolidWorks.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Faster design changes with less rework.
Seamless reuse of imported parts and old models.
Basic simulations in the design phase to reduce reliance on external tools or departments.

What do you like best about the product?

The software was quite easy to understand, with intuitive commands and functions. The ease of understanding was clearly one of the most important aspects while learning how to use it.

What do you dislike about the product?

The software, despite the intuitiveness of basic functions, revealed to be more difficult to use when coming to more complex functions, making it weaker compared to other softwares

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

I used Solid Edge during my University studies and it was used to design mechanical parts and realizing technical drawings of them. It was used together with other softwares too.

What do you like best about the product?

Having utilized Solid Edge for several months for mechanical design tasks, I have established that it is a powerful and feature-rich application that is especially applicable in product development and manufacturing environments for engineers. The ensuing is an evaluation of my experience:

1. User Interface & Learning Curve
Solid Edge has a new, ribbon-style interface that's intuitive if you're familiar with other Siemens applications or even Microsoft Office. For complete beginners, however, the learning curve is fairly steep—especially if you're transitioning from applications like SolidWorks or AutoCAD. Some of the terminology and workflow differ slightly, but Siemens offers excellent tutorials and an active user forum.

2. Synchronous Technology
A highlight is Synchronous Technology. This allows you to directly edit geometry without worrying about a feature tree. This hybrid modeling approach (synchronous and ordered) can seriously speed up design iteration and makes editing imported models so much easier. At first, it was strange not to be working with a parametric history tree only, but in the end, it was a huge time-saver.

3. 3D Modeling Capabilities
The modeling strength is good. From simple components to complex assemblies, Solid Edge handles them well. Patterning, mirroring, and component relationships are all straightforward features. It is also competent in sheet metal design with a good set of bend and flattening tools. Complicated surfacing is not as fluid as in some of the high-end CAD packages like NX or CATIA.

4. Assembly & Simulation
Solid Edge assembly environment is efficient. Large assemblies perform better than I expected, though the performance is sluggish on low-power machines. Built-in simulation tools for stress analysis and motion simulation are adequate to perform basic validation, but I found myself exporting to more advanced FEA packages quite often to run detailed simulations.

5. Drafting & Documentation
The 2D drafting is powerful. Dimensions, tolerances, and BOM generation are straightforward. Drawing mode is well integrated with the 3D model, with changes being automatically updated. Annotation tools are professional-level and can be customized.

6. File Management & Collaboration
Integrated Teamcenter integration (for those who use it) is a huge benefit in the enterprise space. The file system can become unwieldy for single users or small teams if not managed properly. Fortunately, the data management functionality continues to improve, and Siemens has introduced cloud-based services with Xcelerator Share.

What do you dislike about the product?

Steep learning curve for new users

Not ideal for complex surfacing or organic design

Interface may feel outdated next to more modern cloud-native tools

Performance issues on budget machines

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

In traditional parametric CAD systems, editing a model—especially one with a highly nested history tree—is sluggish and error-filled. Solid Edge does away with this with its Synchronous Technology enabling me to directly edit geometry without caring how the original was built. This has reduced my time spent reworking designs or fixing broken relationships in imported models by a huge amount.

Advantages: I can adjust to design changes right away, particularly for clients who keep making changes in requirements.

What do you like best about the product?

As a beginner in civil engineering design, I find Solid Edge’s synchronous technology incredibly empowering. It lets me drag and reshape parametric models in real time without breaking relationships, so I can explore ideas freely and learn by doing. The user interface balances simplicity and depth: core commands are easy to find, and contextual ribbons surface advanced tools when I need them. Integrated drafting and analytical modules help me transition seamlessly from 3D concepts to construction-ready drawings, boosting my confidence as I tackle infrastructure projects.

What do you dislike about the product?

Despite its strengths, Solid Edge can feel overwhelming when diving into simulation or detailed finite element analysis—menus multiply, and it’s easy to get lost. Handling large assemblies of beams, columns, or rebar sometimes causes lag, slowing my workflow and testing my patience. The modular licensing model also bites: unlocking specialized civil tools or simulation packs can strain a beginner’s or small firm’s budget. Finally, native support for some civil-specific file formats is limited, so I often need extra export steps, adding friction to collaboration with other CAD platforms.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Solid Edge tackles the complexity of parametric and direct modeling by uniting both in one interface. For a beginner, this means I can sketch civil components and reshape them instantly without fear of breaking parent-child relationships. It solves the problem of endless trial-and-error and gets me to viable structural concepts faster.

What do you like best about the product?

Solid Edge’s streamlined interface combined with its synchronous modeling engine makes practicing simple 3D designs a breeze. I love how quickly I can sketch parametric profiles and then directly manipulate geometry without juggling feature trees. The integrated tools for patterning, filleting, and mirroring feel responsive, letting me iterate on ideas rapidly. Even as a beginner, I found the learning path logical, and the automatic dimensioning and constraint suggestions help reinforce good modeling habits every time I practice.

What do you dislike about the product?

While Solid Edge excels at simple part modeling, I’ve noticed that performance can dip when working on more complex assemblies or high-detail meshes, even on a mid-range workstation. The installation and licensing process also felt cumbersome compared to some competitors, requiring extra steps to activate and update. Finally, although the core tools are intuitive, finding in-depth tutorials for advanced synchronous features or specialized workflows can be challenging, which sometimes slows down my progress when I want to explore beyond the basics.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Solid Edge tackles the typical CAD headaches of wasted time and lost design intent by blending parametric and direct‐edit workflows into a single engine. It removes the need to dive through deep feature trees just to tweak a dimension or change a fillet, letting me grab geometry and update designs in seconds.

What do you like best about the product?

Solid Edge’s synchronous technology allows for fast, intuitive editing of models without history constraints. The user interface is clean, and integration with simulation tools is seamless.

What do you dislike about the product?

The learning curve can be steep for beginners, especially those without prior CAD experience. Some advanced features require powerful hardware and may lag on lower-end systems.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Solid Edge helps solve the challenges of complex product design by combining direct and parametric modeling, reducing time spent on revisions and speeding up prototyping. It also streamlines collaboration through built-in data management and cloud capabilities, which improves team efficiency. By integrating simulation and drafting tools in one platform, it eliminates the need for multiple software packages, lowering costs and simplifying workflows.

What do you like best about the product?

The best feature of Solid Edge is its Synchronous Technology—it allows for incredibly fast and flexible design changes without having to worry about complex history trees. I also appreciate its strong support for sheet metal design and the wide range of simulation tools built directly into the platform. It’s a solid choice for professional mechanical engineering workflows.

What do you dislike about the product?

The user interface feels outdated compared to other modern CAD tools, and the learning curve is quite steep for new users. Collaboration features aren’t as seamless as cloud-based platforms like Fusion 360, and licensing can be both expensive and complicated.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Solid Edge helps solve complex mechanical design challenges by providing powerful tools for 3D modeling, simulation, and sheet metal design. The integration of Synchronous Technology speeds up revisions and design iterations, which is especially beneficial in fast-paced engineering projects. It also streamlines documentation and drawing generation, saving significant time during product development.

What do you like best about the product?

The vast amount of resources to get going to work with the tool. As well as that students get to use the tools for free is extraordinary to get new talent into a fitting industry.

What do you dislike about the product?

The subscription model that has different versions are at first glance a flexible way for users to chose what version they want. I however would've wanted a quicker overview of what's included on the collective page of all the subscriptions versions instead of having to click into each individual version.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Solid Edge has helped streamline my 3D modeling process by offering precise tools for part and assembly design. It simplifies preparing models for 3D printing with its easy-to-use export options and support for accurate dimensioning, reducing print errors and speeding up prototyping. It's been a valuable asset in my workflow.

What do you like best about the product?

How easy it is to navigate the user interface. The best part is a smooth integrations with other Siemens products, which means a very seamless lifecycle management

What do you dislike about the product?

Smaller community means harder to find help and tutorials, this could be improved inside the Solid Edge to have the ability to find helpful advice or answer more easily.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

I can make design changes even in late stages of the project very easily, which usually takes a long time with other tools. Simulation tools are also a huge benefit as I can catch any potential problems very early.

What do you like best about the product?

Fairly easy to learn and understand, after the first couple months you pick up on it fairly easily and you can navigate around it. It isn’t really taught in school so you have to learn by experience which is good.

What do you dislike about the product?

Like I said above we really aren’t taught this software in school so unless you go to company that has it implemented you really won’t be exposed to it.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

It is a more engineering based user platform compared to a other CAD software like solid works which is more focused on product design and I’m going to college for engineering so it aligns better with my course of study.