Looking for a new 3d printer

[curious aardvark]

there are an increasing number of ready built plug-n-play printers around.
Some actually do what they say they do.

The original makerbot replicator, pretty much nailed it 8 years ago. That's why it's still one of the most copied designs on the internet.
Take it out the box, attach the extruder assembly with 2 bolts, attach filament holders and you're ready to go.
The current crop have improved a lot of things, but the basic makerbot design is still the same.

I made a lidless box/container on my sapphire pro2 last night.
Printed it at a true 150mm/s (well that's what it said everytime I looked) and 0.3mm layer height.

Unless you knew it was 3d printed, I very much doubt anyone would guess.
Damn thing looks and feels like quality injection moulding. Blew me away.

And that's a £300 printer.
The frame is built like a german tank. The top plate is a solid sheet of 6mm aluminium, the base is 2.5mm sheet steel.
The linear rails are quality and the bed and extruder heat up simultaneously and hit 65c plate and 200c printhead in just under 2 and a half minutes.
Oh and it's virtually silent in operation.

Weirdly the thing that makes the most noise is the filament coming off the reel. I could probably design a quieter spool holder by using a bearing on the holder shaft. But, hell the filament noise is the only way I can tell it's running, without actually looking at it.

If the manufacturers use decent parts and design the machine properly (so NOT creality lol) there is absolutely no reason a cheap to buy machine can't beat the crap out of a really expensive machine.

I still haven't seen your working 40mm iris box, printed at 150mm/s auto wiz ;-)
I showed you mine :-)

The only reason I haven't been pushing the sapphire pro2 is that it's build volume is 230x230x220.
Big enough for just about anything I make, but not 300x300x400 that's becoming the new standard for the mid-range machines.

And I was thinking $2k with labour lol