this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2023
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3DPrinting

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Considering Prusa Mini as First Printer (self.3dprinting)
submitted 2 years ago by bfortified to c/3dprinting
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Hi! New to the community, new to 3d printing, new to all of this.

I am heavily considering the Prusa Mini as my first printer.

  • Want a brand that is a good citizen in the 3d printing community and Prusa seems to be on this list.
  • Want a high quality printer to begin my adventure with that doesn't leave me guessing if it's my lack of skill or a lack of quality hardware.
  • Want open design to enable to tweak and improve the hardware/software as I see fit.
  • Linux user who wants full Linux support in the software stack.
  • I want to spend as little as possible on my first printer (still want high quality) because I see myself spending a lot more fairly quickly if I enjoy this as much as I suspect I will. Fortunately I can spend what I need to meet my current requirements but keeping cost down as much as possible is the goal.
  • Enjoy tinkering with hardware and software. Have a background in electronics and Linux system administration.

Would you agree that the Prusa Mini is a good starting spot considering the above?

The pricing I see in reviews etc seems to be lower then what is currently being offered on the Prusa site. Do they often have sales or specials or is this just because the cost of production has gone up? I see reviews that indicate a price of $349 but it's going for $429 on the Prusa site currently.

Should I consider adding the filament sensor and any extra build sheets? Filament from them or elsewhere?

Anything I am missing or not considering?

Any and all feedback is welcomed! Thanks ahead of time!

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[–] Sticky 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Thanks for the insightful comment! I wasn't aware of any big change in quality from Creatality, or those pretty shady review practices. I got my printer right near the start of the pandemic (May 2020), so maybe I got lucky with timing before everything went to shit :-/

If they're junk these days, that's genuinely pretty sad. Always a shame when the a product gets worse due to the manufacturer cutting quality.

[–] fhein 3 points 2 years ago

Unfortunately it seems to be a recurring theme that companies start with a good, competitively priced product to gain some market share, and then reduce quality when they want to start making money. I've had it happen with food and clothes brands that I used to like too.

While the criticisms against Creality might sound bad, I wouldn't go so far to say all their printers are junk. They have a few models that aren't too bad, assuming you don't get unlucky with their lack of quality control. There are lots of countries where it's difficult to buy something other than Creality (or even worse brands, like Flashforge and XYZ Printing), and while there's a slight gamble with quality, most people can get great results from an Ender if they spend enough money and time on upgrades and troubleshooting. Though you can get better value for money, and a printer that on average requires much less upgrades and troubleshooting before it prints well.