EVERY 3D Printer I've Used Tier List

I was recently asked by someone I worked with what 3D printer they should get. This discussion got me thinking about every printer I have used over the years. Today I look back on all the printers I have used and rank them based on my experience and if I would or would not buy them again.

[InMyMnd]

My first printer was a CR-10. After a bit of upgrading i made a big step towards a v-core 3 500. It teached me a lot about wiring and proper assembly in general. The ability to print giant flawless parts at 500mm/s and 50mm³/s flowrate is awesome, but it required a lot of time and studying. My next goal is probably a Annex K2.

[grantclark]

Thank you so much, I've been looking at upgrading from my first printer, maybe even looking at SLA. You've given me lots of ideas!

[madmike]

As a newbie of two weeks, I'm finding the P1S to be amazing and just works. The fact that you can order one online, receive it next day or buy in stores and you just plug it in and go and the quality and speed are great is huge. It's like buying and using any other kind of office printer and it makes 3d printing much easier and accessible to people that are new or don't want to spend time modding to get consistently good prints. My friends and family are blown away with some of the stuff I've printed and some of them have been 3d printing for years.

[anteckgoat]

Honest rundown from a user perspective who doesn’t want to fix manufactures flaws.

I think this type of review or rundown is best for new users getting into hobby.

[HammersmashdFace]

The Anet A8 was my first. Learned a lot from scratch. After a little modding it was almost as good as a Prusa. Since I was busy with the firmware, it was not such a big problem for me to also install a touch sensor.
Today the BambuLab is actually an unrestricted recommendation. Especially also finally Multicolour easy to print.

[SilkyWayFPV]

I have bought a Prusa MK3+ as my first printer what was a great experience. Expensive but good customer service, you learn a lot and now the printer went through 8900m of fillament with a print time of 1100days and it still runs without much maintenance. Now I also have a snapmaker Artisan which is also expensive but great but the Prusa will stay in use aswell.

[OlivierWengerf]

I started with an Anycubic i3 which was recommended to me by a friend who was happy with it. It took me weeks to get the sample owl printed nicely and never got it to work reliably even after replacing and upgrading almost every part on the printer.
Next were two JGAurora A5s these printed ok, but they are very slow and printing bigger objects on the large 30x30cm bed would take days.
Then I got the the Prusa MK3 as a kit (highly recommend building your own) and later upgraded it to MK3+ and MK3S+. The direct drive makes a huge difference. It still prints very reliably, but I am looking forward to the upgrade kit to make it a MK4. The MMU2 option I added was a disaster and ruined the printing experience... so I removed the MMU2 again.
For small print jobs I used the Prusa Mini, which is ok for quick prototyping and when the MK3 was busy printing. The PFTE tubes in the hot end are a bit tricky, as they seem to change length over time resulting in frequent head clogs. Replacing the tube is fairly easy and done in a few minutes, but the length of the tube has to be perfect. I prefer direct drive over Bowden but that is just not a feasible option on a small printer like the Mini.
I also have the Prusa SL1s resin printer and have mixed results with it - sometimes the prints are amazing and sometimes they are bent and distorted
I often have to produce higher number of parts and therefore need a fast reliable printer capable of printing Nylon-Carbon Fiber. I purchased the Bambu Lab X1 Carbon combo. I hardly ever have a bad print with it even with PAHT-CF and the results are near perfect when using properly dried filaments. Meanwhile there are two X1C and one P1P running in my workshop and am very happy with them.
Anycubic i3 Mega - F Tier
JG Aurora A5 - D Tier
Prusa MK3S - A Tier (may become S Tier with the MK4 upgrade)
Prusa Mini - B Tier
Prusa SL1S - C Tier
Bambu Labs X1C combo - S Tier
Bambu Labs P1P - S Tier

[SRMWorkshop]

Most of Anet's issues were from back in the day, but they are nothing special now.

For the ender 7 it was really a stepping stone for them to make their new K1 printer that is more in line with the bamboo. Time will tell if it's any good.

Prusa is totally solid, and support for the US market is now done in the US.

I have spent some time with the Formlabs Form 3, while it is expensive I really like it. Resins auto fill mid print, material changing is really easy (with extra trays) and the resin smell is almost non existent. The software is super basic but works great (closed ecosystem) and we have not yet had an issue with it, other than not buying the wash and cure stations with the printer.

[asdarmas]

00:50 Tevoup Tarantula Pro
2:06 Prusa i3 MK3S+
2:46 Flsun Q5
3:31 Biqu B1
3:58 Labist ET4
4:20 Anet ET4
4:50 Elegoo Neptune 2
5:31 Ender 7
7:48 Flsun Super Racer (SR)
8:28 Qidi Tech I-Fast
9:08 Weedo Tina2
9:35 Qidi X-CF Pro
10:09 Flsun V400
10:52 Fortus 250mc
13:12 Bambu Lab X1C
14:00 Bambu Lab P1S
14:24 Elegoo Mars
15:15 Elegoo Mars 3
15:35 Anycubic Photon Mono SE
15:55 Nova3D Bene4 Mono
16:13 Elegoo Saturn
16: 35 Elegoo Jupiter

[KevinBein]

I have been looking really hard at picking up a Bamboo P1S and this video pretty much sealed the deal for me.

[shinaikouka]

I have a Saturn not a Jupiter, but one thing that I've always envied about the Jupiter? It uses a door. When you're a bit space constrained (i.e., you have too many hobbies for your hobby room), it can be a real bummer dealing with finding space for a resin printer given that most of them have a removable top that has to clear the gantry. This means that while the printer may only be 20" tall, it needs about the same amount of height above it just to remove the top. I have seen some users create doors for the Saturn and Saturn 2, which has been a really tempting idea.

[kajurn]

As a complete newbie who's thinking about getting into 3D printing you have my curiosity and my attention.

[grantv]

My first and one I still use, printing behind at this moment is a Ender 3 v2 from Creality. Jeyers firmware upgrade. Added second Z axis motor. Printed a new Briss Fang head for it and added LEDs to it. Added the silent fans and CR touch. I’ve put a few hundred into it and a lot of work and it’s pretty awesome. Have used for years. That being said it was a lot of work and most people won’t want to go through it and I couldn’t blame them but it does work great with the Jeyers firmware. All my help was from YouTubers getting it set up.

[raybarron]

Thanks for the overview of all these printers. I have been considering a Bambu X1C. Videos like yours have helped me make that decision.

[tscot__]

I have a Neptune 2s that I got new on sale for like $120, it’s been an awesome printer, I’ve never had any problems with it. I haven’t had to relevel the bed for several months and I rarely have prints fail. It’s a great entry level printer, it was my first fdm printer. I would definitely recommend the Neptune line of printers

[constructerj.e.]

Only one printer on the list that i've used, the fortus 250mc. Also at the office back in 2014. This machine was the second 3d printer i ever used. About one year later, i got my first printer.

I think it's very important to know the difference between industrial machines and consumer products.

[EMILE]

the ender 7 issue sounds like the mapping for the settings saved in eeprom changed between versions and it tried to load random values as motor step/mm. you could just change the steps/mm and save to eeprom and it should work fine. or if it has the "load default settings" option, use that and then save to eeprom, it should fix things.

[RevertiveDeath]

First printer was a Monoprice Mini Select - which was honestly a really great tool to get into 3D printing but couldn't handle much. Second was a CR-10S Pro which seemed great at first until I found myself spending more time trying to keep the thing level and fine-tuning retraction settings than actually printing components. Finally was fed up (THIS WEEK) and ordered the Bambu Labs X1-Carbon Combo with their AMS system and I am beyond excited to try this thing out.

[jordparks]

bro i laughed out loud when i saw the picture of you flipping off the ender 7 lol!! so funny

[jameslmorehead]

My office's first printer was the Formlabs Form 2. While the resin was pricey, it gave amazing prints and it didn't smell too much. It was always evolving, so the resins and tank were updated every 6 to 12 months. The only downside was the build volume, with was in line with most other resin printers on the market. This has been fixed with the Form 3L, which has a build volume of 335mm x 200mm x 300mm.