Hello, all. Apologies if this post is redundant or goes against any community guidelines or general best practices. I’m looking to buy my first ever 3D printer, and I came across some listings for the Entina Tina2 and its variants. It seems like an attractive option for me because of the price and the minimal setup required. I should also add that I don’t plan on doing any very serious printing; I’m talking about fairly light usage. So I am fully aware that this printer is quite limited and basic. I don’t mind that. What I’m asking is this: is it a complete waste of money? Does it do what it says on the box, or is it all scammy marketing? What red flags am I missing? Thank you in advance for your responses, and again, apologies if this post is inappropriate in some way.
I definitely don’t like the looks of it, from the fact they don’t list any specs whatsoever to the claiming “it’s got AI!” or whatever. The last brand of printers I’ve seen that looked this shady had vendor lock-in SO BAD that, when the company went under, all the printers they sold got kind of soft bricked.
However, I’m assuming you’re looking at the ~$180 base model? At that price, veryy little else exists, admittedly…
I think Creality’s cheapest printer is probably like $20 more, but if you can swing it, that’s what I’d go with. For the following reasons:
- They actually tell you exactly what goes in the thing.
- There’s a very strong aftermarket repairs/mods scene built up around them.
- There are entire projects built around converting cheap Crealities into other things, for if you outgrow it.
- It’s like the closest you can get to no vender lock-in without building/buying an open source one.
bloomnolia@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I own one. It works, it prints. The prints are not super high quality, but for basic around the house items, some occasional useful items or toys, it’s fine and it will turn PLA and other materials into objects fine, it works with the standard formats and it gets the job done, comes with an SD card with a version of Cura with everything pre-set and a few test print models. You will have some difficulty with highly detailed prints, thin layers, etc., not advised to do finely detailed prints with it. It also is small, if you’re going to print something bigger than 64 cu in, forget it, get a bigger printer. The bed is not heated so something to keep in mind. Does ship with a taped magnetic bed, you can just use regular masking tape on top of the magnet when that becomes worn.