I see a Creality Ender 3 V3 (not SE or KE) for $130 refurbished, and also a Creality CR-10 SE for $103 refurbished on ebay. Are either or these a good choice to get into the hobby, or am I making a mistake? Should I rather buy a Bambu? My budget is around $100-$200 max. Please advise.
I have to agree. My ender 3 has been through hell over the past 5 years, but since I am familiar with it, I can usually dial it in.
If I was just starting out I would be overwhelmed with trying to understand it AND troubleshooting.
If you have an electromechanical background, such as bench repair and/or having repaired lots of truly broken printers, then it is less of a risk imo. I know that refurbish items are usually okay, but there are bad items that make it out of any shop.
The Ender 3 is like an old Jeep Willy’s. Teaches you a ton about how it operated but it does so poorly.
I went from a highly modded Ender 3 to a stock K1. The difference in consistent quality and speed is staggering.
OP, save up your money for an enclosed printer. It makes such a big difference it’s well worth it.
The max is pretty, but the SE is more in my price range.
My use is for making little plastic bits cheaply, and I’m not concerned about time. If my kid wants to upgrade to something better, I will probably “buy” it off him.
I never got the Ender 3 to be consistent. If anything it wasted time, filament, and money because it might finish a print and it might not. Great teaching tool. Awful printer these days.
I found it to just be slow. My only complaint was some weird layer squish, but that was very wrong esteps.