The $349 Micro #3dprinter - working on a video review…
Mine arrived on Thursday, so far so good, pretty decent quality prints using abs and pla
@Wilson_McCoubrey For my first 3d printer, would you recommend it?
and can I use any brand of abs to print with it?
It’s my first printer also, so yes for my first printer it’s good. I bought cheap abs from eBay, don’t know the brand, can be a little temperamental but when the print sticks to the build plate, it works great. However I’m no expert, Ive only had the printer less than 3 days.
Ok, sweet Thanks, How do you like the “os”?
@Koen_Zaiser_Camokoko keep in mind the build volume on the Micro is something like 4"x4".
“Base Print Area: 109mm x 113mm”
+Thantik I know I think I am going to have to settle for something smaller for my price range and a first printer.
It states on their page that it supports and accepts open source software stack output – so that’ll at least get you educated in the toolchain as well.
Toolchain?
It doesn’t support open source software stack, they only extremely recently released a alpha version of their Mac software and to my knowledge no other open source software can be used with this printer
@Koen_Zaiser_Camokoko not sure about “any brand” but it seems like it will take any 1.75mm filament (abs or pla) - but you might have to either hope that their settings are right, or override temperature and hope for the best.
yes - the build volume is small… but i found that our school tech club was always printing small things specifically to achieve speed so many kids could get results… so small size actually is fine.
Ok Thanks for the feedback but I am also considering the http://wanhaousa.com/products/duplicator-i3-steel-frame
@Koen_Zaiser_Camokoko the software is “OK” (i wrote more about this in my blog post linked above) but so far windows only (which i really don’t like) and the user interface is not great…
@Koen_Zaiser_Camokoko I do like this as a first printer, specifically for the price/simplicity formula they’ve achieved.
Mine was due in November, arrived in March… and the clock starts ticking on the warranty the moment you try to use it, so I wasn’t going to “try” a virtualized environment only to have it be unusable for whatever reason. An alpha release of the software? Not much better, because it’s not likely as robust (read: not crashing if you breath too hard at it) enough to justify THAT risk. So I have this (admittedly very pretty) printer I haven’t been able to use yet.
That’s why next time I’ve gone for two things: A larger build area and compatibility with open source. Ironically, since it’s due for a October delivery date, it’s even money which one prints for me first. 
@Wilson_McCoubrey that’s what i understand too… the only downside which I accept given their target market. I really bought this as a test for others, not something I’ll end up using myself. I’ll give it to someone or school.