Ender 3, $240 on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2rwt1aT, $180 right now on Gearbest $243 regularly: https://www.gearbest.com/3d-printers-3d-printer-kits/pp_1845899.html?lkid=10972970
Weedo F192 $1200 on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2LblXJG $1655 on Gearbest https://www.gearbest.com/3d-printers-3d-printer-kits/pp_009878909388.html?lkid=10972970
Listen, I’m a busy guy. I work 6 days a week (at an awesome job, but still), I have 6 kids. So if I make a little mistake in my editing and have to frantically re-cut and reupload a video, I hope you’ll forgive me.
Considering how long this video turned out, maybe I should have just done 2 reviews.
The Ender 3 is on a super sale at Gearbest right now. Of course right now is relative to when you’re reading this, so that statement may be false.
Yes, the Weedo F192 came damaged to me. So why didn’t I do a teardown video like the one I did for the Tevo? Because Tevo left me out in the cold, alone, and Weedo worked with me. Seriously, it takes a lot to get under my skin, but Tevo managed it. And I gotta say, about the insides of the Weedo F192, I have never seen a 3D printer that was more spacious and easy to work on. Of course that meant the loose power supply simply had tons of room to frolic, but it also meant that fixing it was easy-peesy, as the kids say. Again, it was something I didn’t need to do because they were happy to service it, but something I was willing to do and was a joy doing. And, again again, Weedo had my back 100% of the way. Tevo, they just kinda let the community take care of me. And that’s BS.
The argument I hear over and over again for why cheaper 3D printers are better is that it’s not the printer, but it’s the output that matters. And that’s true… to a point. Apples to apples, output between these two printers is comparable. But apples-to-apples is ignoring the fact that the Weedo can do everything the Ender can do, and more. Apples to apples means we’re taking a fruit salad and picking out just the apples and saying “See, they’re the same”. Yes, the output on the Ender 3 is amazing (for the price), and that’s a testament to the Ender 3. It does what it does well. But the Weedo does that and more and you’ll get there with less fuss, less failures, and could do it in materials that the Ender 3 can only dream about. What about upgrading the Ender 3, you ask? Yes, that’s a possibility, and in the end you’ll pay… less than the full price of a Weedo, but what’s your time worth? Because in the end you’ll end up getting not as good a printer (honestly) but have sunk more of your precious time into it, than just coughing up the dough for a better printer to start with.
Two words that you might have noticed I didn’t say in this video: “Open Source”. Yes, the Ender 3 is open source, they wear that badge like a mark of pride, Naomi Wu has done her hardest to make that a point of price for them, and bless her for it. It’s the right thing to do, and and they’re doing it. But does that mean I should automatically discount a better printer because it’s not open-source? Some may say yes. I say, I’ll give bonus points for open source, but I won’t discount a good printer just because it isn’t. And the Ender 3 is a meocre printer that get’s tons of bonus points already. But after we’ve already forgiven an “ok” printer because it’s output is acceptable, it’s super cheap, and it’s not as hard as other printers to put together, should we also be giving bonus points for it being open source? Yes, we absolutely should. The Ender 3 is awesome, I fault no one for having it.
But, at the same time I thank the Weedo people for letting me have this machine, it’s awesome.
