TL;DR: If you’re a first-time buyer of a 3D printer, consider the Creality Ender-3 V2 Neo. If you want to evaluate other options, read on.
I recently purchased my first 3D printer, a Creality Ender-3 V2 Neo. I chose this 3D printer because it has received very favorable reviews and was reasonably priced ($300 when I bought it in May 2023 and currently on sale for $250). There are many features of this particular model that I find to be useful, and although this is not a comprehensive buyer’s guide, my intent is to give you a few things to think about when buying your first 3D printer. I am not an expert, so my viewpoints are mostly from the perspective of the owner of an Ender-3 V2 Neo.
Assembly. I read that some older Creality Ender-3 models required several hours of assembly time, and perhaps that may be true of some other models made by other manufacturers. The Ender-3 V2 Neo was advertised as “95% Pre-Installed” which was appealing to me since I wanted to minimize setup time and get straight to 3D printing. I spent about 45 minutes unboxing the printer and getting it fully assembled, despite being completely unfamiliar with 3D printer parts and terminology. One of the challenges with assembly of the Ender-3 V2 Neo was that although there was a paper instruction manual, the booklet and print size were so small that it was very difficult to read. Fortunately several people had commented on online forums that a PDF version of the manuals was also available online (a PDF version of the manuals also came with the micro SD card and USB to microSD adapter that accompanied the 3D printer), so it was possible to enlarge the instructions and diagrams on a computer monitor. You might want to check online forums for helpful assembly tips for your 3D printer.
Auto Bed Leveling. Prior to my purchase, I was aware of the importance of having a level print bed to ensure good adhesion of your print to the bed surface. I had even watched video tutorials of how to manually level the print bed, and it seemed like a lot of steps to me. Therefore, it was a huge selling point to have an automatic bed leveling feature in the Ender-3 V2 Neo. Before your first print, you may still need to adjust the knobs and springs below the corners of your print bed if macro adjustments are needed, but I was blissfully ignorant of that and went straight to auto bed leveling and haven’t experienced any issues. Auto bed leveling eliminates a lot of the hassle out of preparing for your print job.
Flexible Print Bed. Many 3D printers come with print beds made of varying kinds of glass, steel, or other materials. The Ender-3 V2 Neo comes with a powder-coated flexible magnetic spring steel build plate which offers good adhesion and makes it easy to remove prints from the bed surface. In my experience, simply removing the magnetic build plate from the printer and bending it a few times results in the print job easily popping off the plate. I find that skirts printed around the object are harder to remove but can be easily scraped off with a spatula as long as settings are configured properly. The only downside I’ve experienced from the flexible print bed is that on a couple of occasions I’ve set the Z offset (height of the first print layer) too low, and that resulted in my print job and skirt being difficult to remove (hint: isopropyl alcohol came in handy) as well as the filament leaving a permanent mark on the print bed. I’m not sure if something similar would have happened on glass or metal, but I suspect that it might be easier to damage a flexible print bed. That being said, a replacement flexible print bed is pretty inexpensive, and I really like this option.
Beyond these 3 factors, there were other considerations that did not weigh as heavily into my selection of a 3D printer, but you might want to compare these features across 3D printers anyway. For example, the composition of the extruder may make a difference. The Ender-3 V2 Neo features a full metal extruder which was an upgrade from the Ender-3 V2 which is made of plastic and more prone to breaking. What does the user interface look like? Is your printer make and model common enough so that there are default settings available in most slicer applications? What print dimensions do you require, and is it worth it to spend more on a larger printer? Finally, what is your total budget? Keep in mind that you will likely also spend money on buying filament and possibly other accessories (note that the Ender-3 V2 Neo came with extra print nozzles, spatula, filament cutting pliers, and other goodies).
All in all, I found the Creality Ender-3 V2 Neo to be a great balance between features and cost. If you’ve been thinking about tinkering with 3D printing, now is a great time to pick up a new hobby because prices have dropped to the point where 3D printing can become more mainstream. Regardless of the 3D printer that you buy, be patient and have fun!
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