MakerBot Replicator + 3d Printer

I made an engine! It ran well. but, i put a turbo on it and it ran like a dream

I thought paying more for a printer would mean I would get something reliable with good customer support. I was wrong. Once you buy this machine, you are also buying into a system of their overpriced consumables and add on products.Because If you want any help from customer services, you need to be using the expensive official filament, because apparently these things are too delicate to handle anything other than PLA woven from unicorn hair.Their extruders are made from parts totaling about £30, but you cant buy the parts individually, you have to buy a new one for £200 every time. Wasteful, especially as these smart extruders only have a 6 month warranty, so even by their own admission you're expected to get through two of these things a year, it will be more like four to five by the way (and I probably only used my printer twice a month for prints lasting 24hrs)The last straw for me was the one tough smart extruder I bought, it lasted 3 days, but as I wasn't using the official makerbot filament with it, it was void, no refund, no replacement.The business model, the extortion, the unreliability, the whole thing can get in the sea.

I printed another printer then sent this one back...free printer!

I owned one of these for 6 month and went though 3 print heads, with more down time than actual printing. In the end it was replaced with an Ultimaker 2 had no problem since. stay away from this machine

I have three Maketbot printers. Their software is okay but the printers are unreliable and tend to breakdown a lot. This is expensive because you waste material and time. Marketbot don't seem to care. I am slowly swapping them over to Zortrax printers. Don't buy.Just to add an update to this. The best printer that I've found so far is the Prusa. They have been very reliable - probably because the manufacturer actually uses the Prusa's to makes more Prusas.