This is one of the cheapest 3D printers that has ever been released.

3D Printing
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1

This is one of the cheapest 3D printers that has ever been released. Would it be one that is worth getting for the general public?
http://factor-tech.com/3d-printing/17402-this-could-be-the-brand-that-finally-takes-3d-printing-to-the-masses

2

Probably not. There are a a lot of things that you need to understand to be ‘happy’ (read that ‘successful’) at 3D printing. Very little of these ‘things’ are common knowledge for the average user. We are still a good ways away from plug-n-play and generic printing for the ‘average’ user.

3

Tiko will be the brand not this

4

Tiko still has to prove that they can deliver what they promise. 3D printer kickstarters are far from a sure thing, especially the ones that promise to be the cheapest ever.

5

Unfortunately I can say I have had the pleasure of buying a Da Vinci 1.0, and it is clearly not up to snuff yet. XYZPrinting essentially released a beta product with little to no long term testing (simply look at the changes made to the extrusion assembly; original to current) and many of its users (myself included) are now suffering the consequences. If I as a mechanically inclined familiar user have failed to make this scrap pile work for more than 8 prints in a row, I don’t think the masses will do much better.

6

Hopefully so done will figure it out in a way that isn’t rubbish. We’ll get there. Eventually economies of scale will help.

7

Why are so much people concentrating on the masses?
Millions of users are not something the drone-hobbiests are aiming at, or the model train enthousiasts, to name some. So why are we?
Because we believe the stupid hype in the media?
Come on, people, quit the bullshit. The typical consumer does not want to learn to work with 3d-design programs, does not want to wait several hours to days for a print to finish, is not interested in the mechanics of a printer, etcetera.
It’s a nice hobby, nothing more.
Sure, it opens all kind of posibilities, like the 200 game-pieces I made for someone. I took it as a challenge, and I wil never do that again. It has cost me about 100 printing hours, and maybe 50 or so to finish the pieces by hand. Nobody is willing to pay enough for something like this to make it profitable. And no consumer is willing to spend that much time for such simple things.
3D-printing is, at the current level of technology not for the masses, and it probably never will be.

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@Ian_Johnson The reason why it will be different then the kickstarter rejects is because of ease of manufacturing with a unibody design It will not be like most cartesian 3d printers. Second they have had so much funding to build and manufacture this printer NOTE I am not talking about kickstarter I am talking about start up but grants from start up companies. Tiko was really thought out and really did everything to make sure it doesnt "Bite the Dust"Just trust me

9

@Rien_Stouten
while I agree most people are not willing to learn 3D modeling software, I do think most people would be willing to wait a few hours for a print. I still enjoy watching prints and I’m not sure it will ever get old. The masses would be perfectly able to go on Thingiverse or Shapeways and download an STL file for printing (I personally think it defeats the purpose of 3D printing, which is creating unique and novel items/fixes, but that is where those that know and love the 3D modeling aspect enter the picture). This mass consumption of pre-designed parts is where the profit margin will come into play if 3D printers ever become a normal household item. People will be paying the designers for the time required to design/develop the parts.