Geeetech Upgraded E180 Mini 3D Printer with Power Failure Recovery Function, Removable Hotend, 3.2″ Full Color Touch Screen

 Arrived super fast, the printer came well packed with one amazon box and the printer box inside and the unit was packed in polystyrene it was a very snug fit. The unit is well built and very sturdy for a small machine. The bed is not heated as it only prints pla.If you want a starter machine and not bother with building your own machine then this is the one for you. its very easy to use and the bed levelling was a easy to setup. on the calibration screen the hotted goes to 5 points and you adjust the bed with the control panel. the bed is really smooth and glides nicely along the rail as it has rubber wheels.The control panel is full colour and is very responsive something you would get on a higher end machine. this is ideal if you don't want any fuss and just out the box and print. the SD card that came with it had two files on them wasn't sure what they were so I printed them. it turns out to be a dog. I have other 3d printer that was build your self and this took a while to setup and configure. all in all I think this is a great starter printer for anyone that wants to get into 3d printing.

On the plus side: - You don't have to assemble it as with some other Geeetech products. - The test files provided with it do actually print.On the negative side: - Be prepared to do a lot of homework into 3D printer slicers and printer control products since the software provided with the printer (EazyPrint) is really buggy. (I'm currently using Repetier Host and Slic3r with some success).- The product documentation doesn't do much more than document the printer pieces. It doesn't explain how to use the product pieces (e.g., this screen has a button called X. Doesn't describe what X does or how to use X).- Customer support is non-existent. I've been trying to get a working account for the Geeetech forum for a month and a half. The account creation page has bugs and fails. Tech support doesn't respond to inquiries. Pretty pathetic for a tech company.There is no evidence in the product materials or the company website about any warranty on this product. Coupled with no customer support and lousy documentation, I'd recommend steering clear of this product (and Geeetech).

 After using this printer for a few days after my last one wasn't giving me the quality for prototypes I was after.Set up for this printer was straight forward and if you know how to set up a printer then its very easy and I was printing within half an hour. Inside the box was a filament holder that is made of cut acrylic which is a nice touch. It also came with a USB cable, power cable and adapter, generous amount of filament to get you started and a host of tools to help with bed leveling and other maintenance.I was most impressed with the Removable hotend and the fact it even came with a spare which is a nice gesture given that this is a small printer that you might have on for long stints.The touchscreen was very easy and satisfying to navigate and didn't lag like my previous printer and had a visual 5 point bed leveling rather than the standard 4.Print quality was outstanding and is easily on par with my universities stratasys machines that cost a fair amount more. I use this printer for prototyping and when I printed my test piece it was as good quality as a £3000 printer.The printer itself is very small and light weight and takes up much less room than other small form factor printers. If you can live with a smaller print size then this is ideal for taking into uni if you need or just getting it out when you need to use it.The only con was that the user manual didn't have a lot of information to get you started on printing but that can easily be found on YouTube and even this its part of the learning experience. The only other thing to keep in mind is that while this hasn't got a heated bed it is small enough that the prints will stick using a pritt stick or some hairspray.I'd happily buy this printer again for my uni work.

 Ok I am not a newbie to 3d Printing I have a Geeetech A10m which I love but I wanted a small compact printer to do the smaller things and also something easy to get my son started and hopefully interested with 3Dprinting. As I am a fan of Geeetech and the community are so helpful I decided to stick with the brand and get this printer.I honestly wish I got this one first not the A10M. A10M is a great printer but in all honesty not a newbie 3D printer. This however is almost out the box and plug and play.When I say ALMOST you have to level the bed (which I forgot so first print failed).After that it was print after print. The Blue tape that's supplied on the bed if good for about 10 or so prints. but they supply a second one so you can use that. I tried cheap masking tape but spend the extra and get the blue painters tape as it does genuinely work better.Printer itself is very compact (see my picture compared to a can of Juice) build area is 130*130 although the bed is bigger it will cut off prints any bigger than the print size. I am sure there will be a hack or a Mod in the firmware but I am not fiddling with it just yet. it works fine why break it. And that is for my Son to explore as he gets more involved with it. (well after Xmas anyway he isn't getting it until then)I did a few of my own test prints using the Easy Print 3d software which works fine with this printer but I prefer other slicers and used cura for a few as there is a guide online to setup the printer with it. For newbies easyprint 3d is fine and the fact it works OOB with this printer is a bonus.Once you get used to 3d printing you will more than likely move to Cura or Slic3rPE as you get more "control" (and more issues as you fiddle and learn)Mine is boxed back up to be wrapped for Sons Xmas and im missing it already. I want to use it more for all those small prints I want to do instead of using my bigger printer which I want to keep for BIG prints.