Monoprice Select Mini

It is a good printer for beginners.

when I first got this printer I had to return it because of a warped bed. Other than that this printer was great! Amazon sent me another one before I even shipped the first one back. I had something printing within 5 minutes. Once I got my first 3D printer kit (my second printer) I realized how easy the Monoprice Select Mini v2 was to handle. Great first printer. 

I paid $200 for my monprice mini and to be honest it is actually a pretty good printer for the price I paid for it. I would say that I have had about a 65-70% success rate with my prints and it has not been too difficult to operate the printer. 

Works great and reasonably priced

Ours is the i3 mini special from EBay.

This is the 3D printer that got me to take the plunge into the world of 3D printing.  It was a steal for $116 new on EBay, pre-assembled (your time is valuable).  No heated bed.  Not self leveling.  SD card only.  The build volume is small.  But, not being sure if 3D printing would hold my family’s attention for more than a week, $116 and 0 assembly time was an acceptable risk vs. $450+ for a printer with all the trimmings (and having to assemble it).  It came with a glue stick, which makes a difference if you don’t have a heated bed.  The leveling wizard works well.  It’s the next best thing to self leveling.  Transferring info to the printer by swapping the SD card back and forth is a very minor inconvenience vs. connecting directly via USB or WiFi.  The small build volume didn’t matter to us initially as we didn’t have the patience to wait over night for something large!

It took us a few days to realize that the “slicing” software you use makes all the difference.  This printer came with CURA, which apparently is hailed everywhere as being awesome.  Not for this printer.  We discovered IceSL which made a HUGE difference.  We’ve gone from making our own simple 3D objects with Microsoft Build 3D, to downloading community objects that are pretty sophisticated and slicing them to this printers capabilities.  It is cranking out a Michelangelo Pieta as I write this review.

One important point to make, which may be a con for some, is that you have to be willing to do your own research and spend time on community sites, etc., and have a bit of a mechanical/techie aptitude to get results from this printer.  The models included on the SD card are ready to go and print really well.  But beyond that, you’ll need to find some sort of “intro to” type resource to learn the fundamentals of 3D printing.  This printer only comes with a very basic manual.

My family is definitely into 3D printing now.  Enough so that I am considering buying a DIY, heated bed, self leveling model with a larger build volume.  Or maybe even a resin SLA printer :)

If you are looking to test the waters of 3D printing.  This printer would make an excellent choice.

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I would recommend this as a first printer. It is around $200 for a ready-to-run printer right out of the box which is a really good deal compared to sub $200 printer kits that are hit or miss with quality. Probably the only thing that at least some of the cheap kits have over this one is the build volume (120mmx120mmx120mm) however you can always break objects into several parts. All in all, this is a great printer.

being a 3d printer novice i love this printer it's easy to use and the interface easy just a shame the print build plate is only 120mm x 120mm x 120mm but you can still print nice designs to fit on the plate over all i'm really satisfied with my monoprice select mini v2 it's worth the money 

great prints, but two weeks in my heat bed was showing temperatures ranging from 35 to 405. Looks like a common issue

only done models-come out nice-problem with mini disk getting stuck-still must cover heared bed with tape