2w ago

Is a Prusa Mini+ for $100 a good deal?

I really dont print much and don’t want to spend much money. What is a better alternative besides bambulab

16 comments

if the printvolume suits your needs, i guess it's a good deal. the prusa community is great and the printer is well supported
- What about the print quality, I don’t mind speed
  
  It's OK...nothing stellar or impressive, but acceptable and absolutely good enough for most light users, the one-sided Z-axis is not ideal.
  ~~But yeah, the speed is completely shit compared to other modern bedslingers.~~ edit: seems they managed to catch up to the cheaper competitors WRT speed, so they're on par with printers that cost less than half now.
  
  The quality is whatever you print. The printer's quality is stellar.
  I always say that if you want to print stuff, buy Prusa. If you want to tinker with the printer, buy something else.
  Prusa is the Mercedes of 3d - premium price for a premium experience. At 100$ for a Mini, I would not hesitate even if I already have one.
  
  The print quality is fine if the printer doesn't freeze. Nothing exciting but also not bad for a $100 used device. Still, nothing to ride home about if $200 buys you a new BambuLab A1 mini. In sharp contrast is the Bambulab a reliable and superior printer in every aspect.
  With this sad. If you still consider the Prusa Mini:
  DO NOT update the firmware to versions with input shaping! They introduced a bug that you need to remove the SD-card before turning it on or otherwise the printer believes the firmware is damaged/bricked. This bug has been known for quite a long time without any fix from Prusa (present in multiple "stable"/release firmware versions!!!). I got rid of the last Prusa few years ago because of this issue so it might be fixed, might be still broken.
  Do not rely on network connectivity/features. They are unstable meaning the printer needs to be restarted multiple times per day (combine this with the SD-card issue) and might freeze mid-print.
  
  This might be something hardware related to your printer. Literally never heard of this bug and always running latest firmware.
  
  https://github.com/prusa3d/Prusa-Firmware-Buddy/issues/3333
  Introduced in 5.10 and fixed more than a year later in 6.11 (they claim I can't check as I no longer use Prusa).

16 comments