Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Amazon suggests a shorter reply but if you are going to spend 1300 dollars on something you probably want to know as much as possible. So will do this in point form, overall it does deserve a 4-5 star rating with the difference being how much fiddling you are willing to put up with for me I'm tolerant and I like the tweaking so it gets a 5. Why I bought this printer: - Price for a printer with two extruders could not be beat. -- at the date I purchased, I stopped looking after I ordered - Google groups showed some problems and company seemed to be addressing the issue as they came in a fair manner, and revising design - Similar to makerbot replicator, other post here highlighted the differences Why I almost didn't buy this printer - Flashforge website is a bit of a mess seems there are two sites that link back and forth with one another - One report of a shipping problem (how would I deal with that kind of problem being 12 timezones away) Positive First thoughts - Arrived well packaged, box wasn't beat-up to badly but it defiantly wasn't handled with kid gloves - Was able to print in an hour or so of opening the box - Printing something in 3d is defiantly something to watch the first few times you do it - They emailed me the most up to date manual the day my printer was to be delivered, (a nice personal touch I thought) - They include Spare parts (screws that will roll under something, molded plastic retaining hardware so it will still look stock if you accidentally break something ) Negative First thoughts - Manual mentioned black screws to install extruder assembly there were no black screws in my package of parts, a screw length would have been more useful - Some advice on how to prepare the print surface would have helped - Clear example of how to do your first print may help someone who hasn't researched skienforge/ makerbot/ maker ware/flashforge Positive a week later - Firmware update scary but was easy (sailfish firmware was worth the update) - Dual prints work well (although I still have to figure out deprime settings) - Happy to find makerware works to generate Gcode - Still lots of filament left despite heavy use the first few days - I feel comfortable enough to start a print and go to bed now - I was happy to find the makerbot replicator design files on thingiverse, so claims that this is built from an open source design were easy to confirm. It makes me just that little bit happier I bought this one. - The flashforge team really put a good device together, branching off an ok design and getting it just right, it really works just out of the box. Negatives a week later - Weaknesses appear to be in software it is almost all open source so not FF fault -- It's always improving but if you don't have the patience to deal with software updates, non ideal workflows and several different ways to do things, maybe wait to get a 3d printer - My only faults in dual prints are the other colour oozing out of the extruder (again likely software configuration/proper use issue) - I have some issues with warped bottoms on larger prints; however use of fresh kapton, a wash of acetone/leftover plastic seems to work well for me if I need a perfect print. Open issues: - PLA printing (CLOSED see addendum) -- Seems to be fixed in later printers -- Not sure if my printer is in the "fixed" or" partially fixed" batch not an issue for me right now. However I would like to see the Level of effort to make the fix. I think it's just to replace the nozzles but I am not sure. well that's my review hope it helps someone sitting on the fence one way or another Addendum: good news - its been almost 5 months now still runs like a champ - flashforge sent me an upgraded extruder so in theory i can print PLA, i need to get around to trying that out but news on the forums says it works fairly well -found printer travels well if you add plexi glass panels... everything you need piles into the printer and a box making it easy to bring it some where to show. - software is a little better. but that combined with unchecked models on thingiverse is still the cause of most of my failed prints. bad news - had to replace the x-axis end stop wire with the included one (again 20 min of my time so no big deal just scary when it failed that's all ) - i am not printing every day (but i never expected i would be running 24/7) (also fixed some typos above)