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3D printers · Creality Ender

Creality Ender 3 Pro

8owners with an opinion
50%of verdicts positive
3/4positive/negative since 2024
4 yrslongest happy owner
1happy after 3+ years

Praised for reliability and performance; criticized for ease of use and repairability.

What owners wrote

Doesn’t like itOwned 5 years
I did a similar path to you (Ender 3 Pro, same updates as you except runout), and I was miserable. Yes, I learned a lot about 3d printing while doing it, but I basically never printed unless I REALLY needed something, because I knew I'd spend a bunch of time fiddling and failed prints to get it working. A friend with an unmodified Ender 3 Pro has much better experience. I wanted a Prusa but didn't want to drop the money on it when I first got started, so I thought I'd just add a bed leveler to get less tweaking and more reliable prints, and it went downhill from there. I ended up getting a Bambu P1S, and gave the Ender 3 Pro to my kids school. In a twist of fate, I basically had to undo all the upgrades I did (I was able to keep the new mobo and Sprite extruder though) because the school IT couldn't allow OctoPi on the network and they needed something they could just drop an SD card in. The Bambu P1S has been a real workhorse. In the first couple months I printed more stuff than I had with the Ender 3 Pro in 5 years. And the multi-filament AMS has been a lot of fun for making multi-color prints. I'm kind of glad I learned everything I did with my Ender, but now I want to focus on creating models and printing. Prusa apparently makes great printers, I like their ideals and almost got one, but in the end I decided to go with the Bambu because of the AMS and a Father's Day sale and have been extremely happy.
Likes itOwned 4 years
>I've seriously considered a Bambu I've been there, I've told my Ender 3 Pro (plus lots of upgrades) that if it Fs up ONE MORE TIME I'm getting a Bambu. BUT... A friend of mine recently got a Bambu, partly because of my saying this, and he's been having problems with it: the LiDAR is having issues and support is being unsupportive. In the mean time my E3 has been super reliable and I've finally gotten it really dialed in (only took 4 years). I took a nearly year long side quest, replacing my original Sprite extruder/hot end with a second unit, until I could get the giant clump of plastic removed after a failed print, and apparently that second Sprite shipped with a bad nozzle. I finally happened on replacing the nozzle and things got instantly better. I've always wanted to build a Voron, but this set of problems tuning my E3 have left me burned out. On the Bambu front: my buddy wants to print primarily carbon fiber parts, so his use of it is more demanding than what mine would be, but it really gave me pause about my plan of getting a Bambu.
Recommends itOwned 1 year
This is what I came here to say. I got one for my son a year ago, and I've been surprised at how much use I've gotten out of it. Things I've used it for: - It's currently germinating seeds for the garden. Some people use Instant Pots, but ours doesn't have the Yogurt setting. The printer bed is our best way to keep the seeds at 31C for a week. - Custom Christmas ornaments for the extended family. - Hangers for ethernet cables in the crawl space and drywall grommets for passing through walls. - Headphone hangers. Could have bought on Amazon, but found a design on Thingiverse that I liked and 3 hours later I had it on my desk. - Extension to the hopper on my coffee grinder. It would hold around 3/4 of a 12oz bag, and I was like: I just want to empty the whole bag into the hopper. - Little coasters and trinkets for birthdays and Valentines. Next thing is: My son got a Stirling Engine kit but lost a couple of the gaskets. We can model some molds and create replacement gaskets, they're fairly specialized, not sure if I can just buy them. Plus, it's been kind of fun modifying the printer. Also kind of maddening at times. But it reminds me of the car mod scene when I was 18. I got an Ender 3 Pro, upgraded the motherboard, added a bed leveling sensor, added OctoPrint and a camera, upgraded the extruder, trying out glass beds...
Likes it
I had a cheap Ender 3 Pro for years. It had occasional issues, but they were fairly easy to solve due to the large user base. It was great to learn on since you had to learn the concepts and do some stuff like leveling manually. So even the cheap stuff can work fine.
Doesn’t like it
I upgraded from my buggy, annoying Ender 3 Pro to a Bambu A1, and it's been pretty wonderful so far. I haven't had any need to "babysit" it, and I can trust it to just start a print, and finish it when I get back. It self-levels the bed, etc. I got the most basic model - a single feed for filament, etc. I recommend it. People are right that you shouldn't spend too much money, but don't spend too little, either. If you think to yourself, "Well, $300 is a lot for a 3D printer, I'll just get an Ender 3 for $200, or a used Ender 3 for $100", you'll end up getting significantly more frustrated if all you want to do is 3D print things.
Likes it
Yup, my Ender 3 Pro has had a lot of time and attention. My Ender 3 Pro (and all it's upgrades and parts) will be given away for free shortly. It was great for learning/awareness of all the kinds of issues and details that modern 3D printers have solved. Bambu has the reputation for "Just Works", but assumedly others are making significant progress too. Bambu printers by default are now largely linked to the Bambu online presence. Though "LAN only" modes, slicer workarounds, community firmware and such might get you what you want but do that research. I was lucky my printer was offline when they sent the firmware update to require use of their slicer software. It will never go online again and I don't mind. I don't want to tinker with the printer anymore. I want to just print things.
Neutral
I have and Ender 3 Pro I have done the :"Replacing the nozzle and clearing filament jams are pretty easy." With my Bambu for 18 months, problem just doesn't exist. I have spare parts because previous experience said I'd need it. But not yet. The most egregious operational issue is the occasional hairball, even then, the printer often catches the issue and pauses the print to let me check on it - automatic hairball detection. I don't like the Bambu company and I wouldn't buy one now thanks to their lock in practices. My Bambu won't get the "fuck you" firmware update. But as to their hardware reliability for "just printing stuff" - it's pretty awesome. If other companies have caught up to this, then the 3D printing world is in a much better place.
Doesn’t like it
I wouldn't recommend a Creality to someone new to 3D printing. They can be a pain to work with. They're CHEAP, and there's plenty of aftermarket support, but that ends up turning the printer into a product for someone who sees the printer itself being a hobby, rather than the printer being merely an appliance that produces things. Buying a Creality printer is like buying a hobby-grade RC car (ie, Traxxas, Team Associated, etc.). Decent out of the box, but you're likely going to be reaching for buying upgraded parts and it eventually becomes a Ship of Theseus. I have an Ender 3 Pro, my list of upgrades: - Replace the crappy flexible mat with PEI-coated flexsteel - Filament runout detector - Motherboard replacement (made flashing custom firmware 100x easier, and uses quieter stepper motor drivers) - Automatic bed leveler - Dual-gear extruder - Customized firmware that changes the 3x3 bed leveling matrix to 7x7 - OctoPi A decent printer will have half of these features already built in.
Likes it
The Bambu Labs A1 series as others have mentioned is ridiculously good, from all the reporting I've seen. I ended up getting the P1S with the multi-filament printing on sale on Father's Day and I've used the heck out of it. It replaced an older Ender 3 Pro that I loved, but was always having to mess around with. I don't know the hours, but it's been printing the vast majority of the time since I got it, last Father's Day, and it's been super reliable. This weekend I designed and printed out a routing template for routing out door hinges onto door jambs. I had bought a tool for doing it on doors then realized it wouldn't help me on the other side.
Doesn’t like it
Technically, humans are also 3d printers....we just are super slow at assembly of large structures.... However we are able to design and build and "print" more complicated structures as we work in 3 dimensions and are only limited by our strength. Side note: 3d printing is awesome tech. While its not exactly super eco friendly, its a big help for rapid prototyping. I currently have an ender 3 pro which I upgraded with a touch sensor. Its not working due to issues I can't figure out....but I think it has a motor or alignment issue....but the 2 prints I have successfully done were amazing.
Likes it
Ender 3 Pro. Unmodified other than a BL Touch. Just a bunch of fun. My first Dutch oven. I cook most the meals in our household, like 95%. I never have owned a Dutch oven. Misen had a Dutch oven on kickstarter and I picked one up. So far, very happy. You have to be careful how you heat them, but they cook stews wonderfully, and I braised a bunch of meatballs, then filled it with spaghetti sauce for dinner one night. In a stainless steel pot, that can be a cleanup nightmare. The Dutch oven just wiped out clean after a soak. So, happy with both of those purchases.