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I know there is a lot of negative talk about Makerbot, but I don't think they really deserve it. My friend just brought home a MakerBot replicator (5th gen), and it's awesome. I love the on board camera and smart extruder. The prints come off looking great, and I don't know if it's it really is or not, but it seems faster than the Replicator 2 to me.
Ron, I'm also a big fan of the 5th generation lately. I wasn't when it first released, but with the latest firmware updates and whatnot, it seems like a quality printer.
We're a Makerbot retailer, but haven't brought any 5th gens into our store yet, even though we have a few customers interested in the Z18. We have Rep 2s in stock on the shelf. We've heard from our distributor that the reliability on the initial production runs has been far below the Rep 2, and that the customer return rate has been astronomical. I spoke with a customer last week, who bought some filament from us, that has had a 5th gen for 6 weeks, and is already on his 3rd extruder. That customer also said that there have been several firmware updates in the short time he's owned his 5th gen. He's the first 5th gen owner I've actually spoken with face to face, everything else I've seen are just internet postings.
We really like our Rep 2s, and are disappointed that Makerbot seemed to have rushed this to market before the bugs are worked out.
I'd like to see an unbiased side-by-side review of the 5th gen versus the Rep 2 by someone who has spent some time with both. We have over 2,000 hours worth of build time on our Rep 2s.
I just returned my mini. I didn't like the fact that you were FORCED to use rafts to support the build. I also didn't like that you cannot fine tune a lot of the settings in the software. They are grayed out when you try to utilize them. You cannot change the print definition and a lot of the builds I did had filament strands all over the place. I'd say I was about 20% happy with the builds.
The rafts to not come off cleanly at all after you build. I was thinking about upgrading and getting the replicator 5th gen instead. Pros? cons? What are the other choices out there that are worthy?