Hi all.
My venerable ender 3 has likely printed it’s last benchy. Plus side, the tech has advanced significantly since I bought it. Down side, I’ve not kept track of the newer options.
Can anyone give me a rundown of which are worth looking at, and which to avoid?
I’m mostly concerned with reliability, but a speed boost would definitely be welcome. A heated chamber and/or multi material would also be very nice to have.
I would like to keep the costs closer to £500 ($680) but can stretch that, if there is a machine worth it.
I also have a complete no on bamboo printers. I don’t like what they’ve done regarding abuse of the open source movement.
Thanks all!
Edit to add. I’m not against non open source printers. I just have an issue with companies trying to burn the ladder behind them and lock their customers into a bubble.
Double edit: The snapmaker U1 seems like my best option. Ticks all the boxes, while remaining well in budget.


I’m mostly happy with my qidi plus 4 but I’m not sure of they can be recommended. The prices are good but they have some problems with keeping up the quality as I heard. Also the qidi plus4 is quite loud and I heard they multi color unit is very loud. Speed and print quality are excellent though. I’m not sure if there is a better printer for the price but maybe paying a bit more might give you a better printer.