This is a copy paste from one of my earlier comments. See the original comment here.
As many of you have noticed, I have some sort of an anti-Creality bias. While I try my best to incorporate as many objective facts into this rant as I can, there is still a degree of exaggeration so take this entire post with a grain of salt.
The Ender 3 gained a lot of popularity back in 2018-2019 because it was one of the only good printers for that price and definitely made 3d printing more affordable due to its low upfront cost.
Creality, the company behind the Ender 3, has since then decided to change its business strategy. They are now deciding to ride off the successes of their printers and the fact that they have managed to saturate the market with multiple models. Creality has largely abandoned the concept of quality control, with many models and units failing or having faulty parts. This also applies to newer Ender 3 models, those produced around 2019-2020 and after which is why people who owned Ender 3s for years may be fine, but newer units are ridden with problems. Creality has also resorted to paying many youtubers for good reviews and requiring scripts to be approved , indicating their dishonesty. Recently, as of April 2022, they are stirring up quite a mess with their Creality Cloud, which includes ton of stolen models (some of which were paid) , outright denying it , and straight up blocking anyone that called them out . They are even desperate enough now that they are using bots to advertise it on the subreddit. Meanwhile, they have failed everyone who backed their CR-Lizard Kickstarter by closing the campaign due to an issue, but then not providing any information on backers who spent money expecting an item (kickstarter with issue, but generally shouldn't happen with large companies). Their new models of printers also reflect on their new strategy, as their CR-10 smart is riddled with tons of quality control issues, while the Ender 7 has fallen so behind that not even their paid reviewers like it.
Since now, other 3D printing companies have caught up with the Ender 3 and are already producing printers around its price range that are outright better. There are Ender 3 clones that are similar enough but with superior parts, lower prices and sometimes better quality control. Check my recommended list for options.
Printers of comparable price levels have now severely outclassed the Ender 3. Multiple printers in my recommended list can be had for similar, or a slightly higher price but offer significantly more features. Manyof these include dual Z-axes, direct feed extruders, superior quality control, among other features. They are found not too far from the MSRP of the Ender 3 V2, usually not exceeding it by much (or even being cheaper during sales) but come with $50-$100+ dollars of upgrades over the Ender 3 V2.
The original Ender 3 line's development meanwhile is stagnant. All four mainstream Ender 3 models are nearly the exact same, all of them share a common extruder design (plastic on all except the Max), they use the same hotend, same fans, same motion system, almost same anything. There is practically no reason to get an Ender 3 V2 over a regular Ender 3, because none of the upgrades improve the print quality and they are only usability upgrades that can be printed for free. The new Neo variants do improve on some needed issues, but still do not redeem the printer. The only Ender variant to actually have significant changes is the Ender 3 S1.
The "low" price of the Ender 3 is no longer competitive. The only worth time is if you can secure an Ender 3 Pro from Micro Center (very nice store) for $99 in special coupons that has been commonly available. The cost of the Ender 3 upfront is indeed low, but given the quality of parts you receive for it, it is worse in value compared to the other machines.
The primary advantage boasted about the Ender 3 is the community and therefore, the ability to troubleshoot and tinker. I'd say this is actually not important specifically for the Ender 3. All printers have the same general design, they all use stepper motors, extruders, hotends that in principle achieve the same thing. Many budget printers use the exact same hotend as well. A cold-pull can be done on both an Ender 3 and Prusa. Prints not sticking to the bed on both can be because of an improperly levelled or dirty bed. The general fixes and troubleshoot of issues for the Ender 3 is universal with pretty much every other printer unless their design is radically different enough. Here is the main difference: Other printers do not require much tinkering or upgrades in the first place.
This part may be a bit inflammatory,
Even if the Ender 3 "works fine", there are multiple other printers that also work fine or do the job better. All printers will achieve nearly the same print quality anyways, some will require more or less tuning. And they are usually cheaper and better value than the Ender 3. Sure, you can print some impressive things with the Ender 3; I printed an entire rocket with it, but I could've done the same thing (with better quality) on any other printer. Preferably one that is better value.
TLDR: It fails often. It's expensive for what the quality is. It's obsolete.>! You're often recommended of it because of a hivemind around it. !<The company around it is terrible. Avoid it whenever possible.
For a list of alternative printers to buy instead, see here.
Creality printers that are objectively decent as of March 2024: Ender 3 V3, K1 and derivatives, CR-10 SE
Older models: Ender 3 S1 (and its derivatives), CR-10 Smart Pro, MAYBE Ender 5 S1
Note that all may still be subject to quality control issues.
I appreciate this post. I just have a question because a buddy of mine gave me his 3 year old ender 3 pro for free. Should I still look at a different FDM printer or keep this Ender 3 Pro and make any modifications in the future?