Current at home setup

 Come meet the rig so far!

THE 3D PRINTER

After a bit of research, I opted for the Creality Ender 3 V2. I was looking for a Creality Ender 3 Max but since there were no deals available, I picked up this instead. This is the model with the glass heat bed, the silent drivers and a few other upgrades over the original. For something to start with, this PLA unit came highly recommended and at $360, didn't break the bank too hard.

CREALITY ENDER 3 V2 - THE GOOD

-Vague instructions aside, this is pretty easy to put together as it comes partially assembled out of the box and building it gives you a much greater understanding of how everything comes together when printing. If you can swing a hex key, you'll do fine here.

-There is an ocean of support available for this model. No matter what goes wrong, someone has a solution somewhere. A fantastic resource is the Ender 3 Reddit page. There's a lot to learn but the redditors there are more than willing to share. 

-Millions of things to print. Millions. I bought it for models but my kids are keen on toy furniture while my wife is eyeing off ideas for Christmas. 

-Plenty more upgrades available from metal extruders to better springs, even auto levellers. If you like tinkering, this is a great unit to get into.

CREALITY ENDER 3 V2 - THE BAD

-Getting things dialed in including making sure the bed level is okay can take some time. The stock level springs can be a hassle if you want to get things done quickly. You will need to troubleshoot at times. 

-If you don't like problem solving, this probably isn't the unit for you. Likewise if you get frustrated easily as you will have days where you start a project many times, only to watch in dismay as your heated filament goes everywhere other than where you want it to. (Hint, clean the bed)

-It's not the quickest out there. Good prints take time so hopefully you've got something to keep yourself occupied while things thing works through the size of your project. 

CREALITY ENDER 3 V2 - THE UGLY

The good news is, there's nothing to report here so far, nothing broken or major dramas in the first few days of ownership and use. I will update as/when things go bang though.

THE FILAMENT

The Ender 3 uses 1.75 size filament so I've started with this basic white PLA+ from Tecor. I don't have anything to compare it to yet but it's working well in the prints so far.

THE UPGRADES

Firmware - JyersUI (A fork of Marlin)