I’m shopping for my first printer, I don’t have any experience with 3d printing but I’m vaguely familiar with the whole process and I understand there will be a learning curve and I’m looking forward to that part.
I’m leaning towards the Creality S1 Pro because I remember the huge hub-bub about the Ender 3 when it first came out and it seems like everyone and their brother suggests it as a good first printer but then when I read reviews it seems kinda janky and I’m an adult with a job so I don’t mind fussing a little but I don’t want to fuss a lot.
I picked the S1 Pro because I think it has an auto-leveling print surface and the name recognition from the previously mentioned Ender 3, but when I try to research other printers I’m completely overwhelmed by the options.
If you are looking for minimal fussing about, get a prusa or a bambu. You will spend more money that route though, and the bambu is a closed system so you buy official parts from bambu when something breaks. Personally I am a fan of sovol and elegoo printers over reality, if you are looking for a bed slinger design. (creality is the name everyone recognizes so they have market share, but really they aren’t making anything better than (or in many cases even as-good as) anyone else.)
I’m also a big fan of flsun deltas, but don’t think I’d go for the v400… Super racer is a great machine and the q5 is a fantastic starter printer and cheap to start, if a bit limited in build area. But if I had the money to spend on a v400 I’d likely buy a bambu (or build a rat rig or voron, actually) instead.
what makes a sovol or elegoo better than creality? I just get so overwhelmed because they all look pretty much the same and seem to be priced the same too
I have only one printer and it is a sovol sv06 so I can’t compare it to any creality printers, but it has been great. My understanding is that the sv06 is a clone of a prusa printer. I have had extremely minimal tinkering with mine (other than lubricating bearings once) and I have been printing most days for the past month. I’m sure the prusa has better QC and better customer support but the sovol was less than half the price
