3D Printing Any recommendations for a replacement entry level printer?

[duckandcover]

I got my first printer a new Anycubic Kobra Neo in october for $89 with a free spool. The price was low because they killed the model. It screwed up after a month and tech support has been
a joke with them taking a long time to send me info and tech support for wrong printers and only saying unplug and replug connections and telling me tech support during
the holidays will be even slower. $%*@#$. I'd like to use Cura and/or Prusa slicer and a printer model that has a profile already setup for it and thinking if i can find a sale during the holidays don't waste my time
and aggravation on the Neo. I doubt i'll print anything much more complicated than rocket parts with it.
/The temp constantly goes up and down between 195-205.

 

[Bravo52]

Quite frankly, all the lower-end printers are going to have a lot of the same issues. You can either dive deep into learning the ends and outs or get a higher quality (ie higher price) printer. As far as "bed slingers" go, you can't beat a Prusa. Even a used one is preferable to me than others.

You'll get a lot of opinions on different makes and models but look around the web and find the largest support group on places like Reddit or Youtube and go with one of those.

 

[thzero]

Quite frankly, all the lower-end printers are going to have a lot of the same issues. You can either dive deep into learning the ends and outs or get a higher quality (ie higher price) printer. As far as "bed slingers" go, you can't beat a Prusa. Even a used one is preferable to me than others.

You'll get a lot of opinions on different makes and models but look around the web and find the largest support group on places like Reddit or Youtube and go with one of those.

I thought the Prusa was junk... hated it. But has good support from company, which you don't really get with the Chinese brands, and the community. Does have lots and lots of upgrades too.
Creality Ender series is decent, lack of company good support, but lots and lots of support, upgrades, etc. Especially if you start with one with auto bed leveling. Think newer ones also have direct drive, and larger nozzle temp ranges.

 

[Bravo52]

I thought the Prusa was junk... hated it. But has good support from company, which you don't really get with the Chinese brands, and the community. Does have lots and lots of upgrades too.
Creality Ender series is decent, lack of company good support, but lots and lots of support, upgrades, etc. Especially if you start with one with auto bed leveling. Think newer ones also have direct drive, and larger nozzle temp ranges.

I can't think of any conceivable metric used to consider Prusa "junk". It excels at every aspect of printing and that does come at a price. The only thing the money for a Prusa doesn't buy is patience. Perceived "value" is the biggest problem people have with Prusas. The cost is higher but the quality of materials, design (pretty common), open source, customer service and availability of parts is matched by no one. They only time I've not been able to get an "extra" something or other (hot end, build plate, etc) from Prusa is because they were sold out.

Yes, I'm a Prusa fanboy and will always be. That's not to say other printers don't work or that occasionally you get a bad printer from Prusa, but to mischaracterize lack of perceived value as "junk" is laughable. Enders are ok, but you get what you pay for.

 

[Banzai88]

I started several years ago with an Ender 3 Pro. Very, VERY steep learning curve as ALL Ender bed slingers are finicky and QC is a crap shoot........and it hasn't reached its potential until I paired it with a Sonic pad and the CR touch.

At this point, I don't think that ANYTHING without auto bed leveling should be something that anyone considers, since it's such an inexpensive feature that brings the machine light years closer to 'it just works'.

And not too long until Klipper pretty much aces out Marlin and consigns it to the dustbin of history.

 

[thzero]

Junk. Usually yes you get what you pay for. Prusa isn't any better than Chinese for cost. I gave mine away.

But you know opinions....

I can't think of any conceivable metric used to consider Prusa "junk". It excels at every aspect of printing and that does come at a price. The only thing the money a Prusa doesn't buy is patience. Perceived "value" is the biggest problem people have with Prusas. The cost is higher but the quality of materials, design (pretty common), open source, customer service and availability of parts is matched by no one. They only time I've never been able to get an "extra" something or other (hot end, build plate, etc) from Prusa is because they were sold out.

Yes, I'm a Prusa fanboy and will always be. That's not to say other printers don't work or that occasionally you get a bad printer from Prusa, but to mischaracterize lack of perceived value as "junk" is laughable. Enders are ok, but you get what you pay for.

 

[John Beans]

Maybe stretches the budget too much to be called “low end” but I think Bambu’s $299 A1 Mini shows a ton of promise for what it delivers.

I would put this in the category of, “Any bargain printer that sucks is a waste of money, but a printer that costs a little more and is great is worth every penny.”

All of Bambu’s stuff is really well designed. My X1 Carbon is (in my opinion) the first real Just Always Works printer.

https://us.store.bambulab.com/products/a1-mini

 

[MaxxQ64]

Maybe stretches the budget too much to be called “low end” but I think Bambu’s $299 A1 Mini shows a ton of promise for what it delivers.

I would put this in the category of, “Any bargain printer that sucks is a waste of money, but a printer that costs a little more and is great is worth every penny.”

All of Bambu’s stuff is really well designed. My X1 Carbon is (in my opinion) the first real Just Always Works printer.

https://us.store.bambulab.com/products/a1-mini
View attachment 620276

Bambu just released a new printer: The A1. No Mini-anything, except the AMS Lite, if you go for that option.

This one has the same build volume as their X1 and P1 series models, and shares many components with the A1 Mini, which means if you need replacement parts, they're already available.

Price is $399 for the printer alone, and $549 for the printer/AMS combo.

https://us.store.bambulab.com/products/a1?variant=41583355199624

 

[cwbullet]

Non of the manufactures provide live support outside of a few US based companies and Prusa. I have been happy with my BambU’s but the email support is hit or miss. I cannot say the same for Prusa. Teh shop chat based support is fantastic.

 

[DigBaddy]

I have no experience with printers other than the one I own, but my Ender 3 v2 Neo has been pretty damn easy. Threw it together, set Z offset, let it auto-level the bed and away it went. I've only printed PLA and PETG, but does a fine job on either.