Has anyone had a good experience with the Ender series?

[xayoz]

For me, the big issue is going to be price point. I had a Monoprice Mini Delta, and currently have Ender 3 Pro, Artillery Sidewinder X1 and Prusa MK3S.

The Monoprice was great when it worked, but one day, it would heat up, and then just sit there at temp, doing nothing. I tried to contact support and got no answer for 3 weeks. Fortunately Amazon made an exception and took the printer back and refunded. This was after only 5 months of use.

The Ender 3 Pro, for me, was great out of the box. I could get solid, good looking prints, but yes, as Aardvark says, it is slower. But for me, speed isn't an issue as I'm printing for fun, not for mass production. I did find that I had to relevel the bed frequently, so I added a BLTouch. And that was great for a while. Again, Aardvark is correct to say that you CAN put a lot of money into upgrades, which I have, but many people still run their Ender stock and are happy with it. I happen to enjoy upgrading, and this is my printer to do it on. My next upgrade was a BTT SKR Mini E3 1.2 board with silent steppers. This made it so the only noise was the fans, and gave me a 32 bit board to play with. I later wanted to go to a direct drive so added a MicroSwiss direct drive kit with all metal hotend. Then my BLTouch stopped working properly, so I got a spring steel build plate and an inductive sensor. That worked great for a while, but as of last night I'm under extruding. I'll check for clogs later today, then if that doesn't do it, I'll dismantle the hotend and check again, then if needed I'll have to learn about how to calibrate esteps (haven't had to do on any machine yet). So if you're ok with frequent leveling, slow speed, and the POSSIBILITY of some tinkering and/or upgrades, it's a decent printer for the price point. And before Aardvark attacks Ender again, OF COURSE you'll get a better printer for MORE MONEY.

My Sidewinder X1 has needed relatively little maintenance. The bed gets leveled about every 15-20 prints. I haven't done any upgrades, other that a printed drag chain. And as far as maintenance, the heater block is a little awkward, so if you're not careful changing your nozzle, you can easily get a gap between it and you heat break, which will cause a clog. The when you take off the heat block to get at the heat break, it can be easy to damage the thermistor or heater core wires, so having spares isn't a bad idea. But again, relatively maintenance free, and has been very reliable. Also the large build plate is nice.

Finally the Prusa MK3S. This thing has been a workhorse. Yes, at one point the bed theristor failed, but Prusa was quick to send a replacement. Also, I had a bad squeaking, but I just had to dismantle and lube the bearings (Prusa says in the build manual that it isn't needed when building, but they're wrong, I should have greased right away). Other than that, has been very reliable, and there are no leveling screws, only the PINDA probe, so never have to level, and my Z height has been untouched since building the machine. An excellent machine, and worth the money for being pretty much maintenance free.

However, there is always the consideration of budget. Yes, the Ender cost me near as much as the Prusa after all my upgrades, but that is spread over time, not all at once, so easier to afford. Also, my upgrades were to solve issues you may not perceive. If you're fine with manually leveling the bed all the time, you don't need the probe. If you're fine with the machine singing to you while it prints, you don't need silent drivers, etc. Again, it was fine stock until I decided I wanted to do upgrades. That being said, if you can afford the hefty price tag of the Prusa, it is well worth it. The sidewinder is priced between the 2, but you may find upgrades you want that I didn't. In fact, I like the spring steel on my other printers so much, I may add it to the sidewinder, rather than the OE glass bed.

Haven't looked at the 2 in 1 myself at all, but for multi colours, if it's in the budget, check out Prusa MMU2S (5 colours) if you go with a Prusa MK3S. Or with any printer, you could check out Mosaic Pallette 2S (4 colours). I've ordered a 2nd Prusa and with it a MMU2S to try multi colour prints.

[TreeTolber]

For me, the big issue is going to be price point. I had a Monoprice Mini Delta, and currently have Ender 3 Pro, Artillery Sidewinder X1 and Prusa MK3S.The Monoprice was great when it worked, but one day, it would heat up, and then just sit there at temp, doing nothing. I tried to contact support and got no answer for 3 weeks. Fortunately Amazon made an exception and took the printer back and refunded. This was after only 5 months of use.The Ender 3 Pro, for me, was great out of the box. I could get solid, good looking prints, but yes, as Aardvark says, it is slower. But for me, speed isn't an issue as I'm printing for fun, not for mass production. I did find that I had to relevel the bed frequently, so I added a BLTouch. And that was great for a while. Again, Aardvark is correct to say that you CAN put a lot of money into upgrades, which I have, but many people still run their Ender stock and are happy with it. I happen to enjoy upgrading, and this is my printer to do it on. My next upgrade was a BTT SKR Mini E3 1.2 board with silent steppers. This made it so the only noise was the fans, and gave me a 32 bit board to play with. I later wanted to go to a direct drive so added a MicroSwiss direct drive kit with all metal hotend. Then my BLTouch stopped working properly, so I got a spring steel build plate and an inductive sensor. That worked great for a while, but as of last night I'm under extruding. I'll check for clogs later today, then if that doesn't do it, I'll dismantle the hotend and check again, then if needed I'll have to learn about how to calibrate esteps (haven't had to do on any machine yet). So if you're ok with frequent leveling, slow speed, and the POSSIBILITY of some tinkering and/or upgrades, it's a decent printer for the price point. And before Aardvark attacks Ender again, OF COURSE you'll get a better printer for MORE MONEY.My Sidewinder X1 has needed relatively little maintenance. The bed gets leveled about every 15-20 prints. I haven't done any upgrades, other that a printed drag chain. And as far as maintenance, the heater block is a little awkward, so if you're not careful changing your nozzle, you can easily get a gap between it and you heat break, which will cause a clog. The when you take off the heat block to get at the heat break, it can be easy to damage the thermistor or heater core wires, so having spares isn't a bad idea. But again, relatively maintenance free, and has been very reliable. Also the large build plate is nice.Finally the Prusa MK3S. This thing has been a workhorse. Yes, at one point the bed theristor failed, but Prusa was quick to send a replacement. Also, I had a bad squeaking, but I just had to dismantle and lube the bearings (Prusa says in the build manual that it isn't needed when building, but they're wrong, I should have greased right away). Other than that, has been very reliable, and there are no leveling screws, only the PINDA probe, so never have to level, and my Z height has been untouched since building the machine. An excellent machine, and worth the money for being pretty much maintenance free.However, there is always the consideration of budget. Yes, the Ender cost me near as much as the Prusa after all my upgrades, but that is spread over time, not all at once, so easier to afford. Also, my upgrades were to solve issues you may not perceive. If you're fine with manually leveling the bed all the time, you don't need the probe. If you're fine with the machine singing to you while it prints, you don't need silent drivers, etc. Again, it was fine stock until I decided I wanted to do upgrades. That being said, if you can afford the hefty price tag of the Prusa, it is well worth it. The sidewinder is priced between the 2, but you may find upgrades you want that I didn't. In fact, I like the spring steel on my other printers so much, I may add it to the sidewinder, rather than the OE glass bed.Haven't looked at the 2 in 1 myself at all, but for multi colours, if it's in the budget, check out Prusa MMU2S (5 colours) if you go with a Prusa MK3S. Or with any printer, you could check out Mosaic Pallette 2S (4 colours). I've ordered a 2nd Prusa and with it a MMU2S to try multi colour prints.

Thanks so much for taking the time out of your day to share some knowledge!!! I will look into the devices you mentioned.