Ender 3 Vs. Flashforge Ad 3

Picking a decent 3D printer is often one of the hardest things to do. There are many specs and features that are crucial to your overall printing experience. You want to ensure that the sizes of projects you plan on printing are compatible with the printers printing capacity. Aside from that there are other nuances that are imperative to the 3D printing experiences such as filament compatibility, assembly and most importantly price just to name a few. Brand awareness and customer reviews also help with customers overall purchasing decisions. Before individuals purchase things, they often check out the reviews and video tutorials of said product if applicable. Two of the top brands we often recommend to our customers are Creality & Flashforge, specifically the top models from the brands are the Ender 3 and the Adventurer 3. By comparing the models, we hope that this will ease the purchase of either products.

 The Creality Ender 3 is a very popular brand and has won in the popularity contest amongst 3D print enthusiasts. This printer is ideal for people who want a DIY printer. The assembly of this model can take anywhere from 20mins -1 hour depending on how quickly you  work. The printer is pre-assembled out of the box and has a print of area of 220 x 220 x 250mm. For a decent bed size, the Ender 3 is also priced at an affordable price. The print is an open source printer with a compact design and allows for multiple upgrades without causing any harm to the overall functionality of the print.

The Ender 3 is a popular printer because of its BuildTak-like heated build plate, the power recovery mode and the tight filament pathway. This filament pathway makes it easier to print with flexible materials and such features are hard to find on other printers, even the expensive ones. This printer is flexible with some of the common market filaments such as PETG, PLA & ABS. The Ender 3 is also compatible with other forms of filaments such as flexible and exotic filaments. The printer will exceed your expectations because of the way it prints, the final product will be seamless and smooth which could be seen as one of the Ender 3’s advantage. One of the cool things about the Ender 3 is its ability to fully recover and resume printing if disconnected or if there is a power outage.

One of the minor setbacks that the Ender 3 has is a bit of an assembly process, although the printer comes pre-assembled it does require about 20-40 mins of assembly. You would also need to manually calibrate the printer but this  manual  is a smooth process because of the large bolts that are conveniently placed underneath the bed. Once the leveling process is complete (P.S this can take a few attempts), the Ender 3 can then be compared to the printers that are close to the $1200 range. Making it one of the most impactful 3D printers in the market for its price range.  

Here’s a brief overview of the specifications for Creality Ender 3:

The Ender 3 is an excellent option for beginners who are on a budget and don’t mind a little DIY. The affordability and upgrades extensions elevate the printer be a worthwhile investment.  Though there are other printers that are in the same price range as the Ender 3 it is more equipped to provide high quality 3D printing right out of the box. With a budget set around the price range of the Ende 3 there is no quality out there like the Ender 3, in terms of affordability and quality.  

Adventurer 3

 The Adventurer 3 unlike its counterpart is also a great choice for 3D print beginners. The printer is fully enclosed and requires set up that will make it fast and easy to work with. Unlike the Ender 3 the Adventurer 3 comes fully assembled due to its enclosed setting. It comes packaged in a way to ensure no damage is done to the printer during its shipping process. Once the packaging materials are removed from the print the only thing, you’ll need to do to power machine is plug it in. This is one advantage that the Adventurer 3 has over the Ender 3. The Ender 3 requires assembly and is not enclosed whereas the Adventurer 3 is fully enclosed with minimal to no assembly.

The Adventurer 3 has its own slicing software, Flashprint, which is easy to download and completely free. The most popular 3D slicing software is Cura however, it is suggested to use Flashprint with the Adventurer 3 due to the software’s ability to default all the necessary settings for the desired printer model. Flashprint is user-friendly and made to make the application process smoother. You will be able to connect to your printer via wireless connection   by navigating the IP address assigned to the printer. Navigating the touchscreen is simple to locate the IP Address and input it into Flashprint for the slicer to connect to the printer. The package comes with a free 600g red PLA filament and a tool kit. The Flashforge Adventure 3D is an amazing entry level printer for those who are just testing out 3D printing. The slight disadvantage of the Flashforge compared to the Ender 3, are the size build. Since the Ender 3 is open sources it allots for a bigger build size unlike the enclosed Adventurer 3. The build volume on the Adventurer 3 is 150 x 150x 150mm. Depending on the type of prints you plan to do be doing this can be a reason you go for the Ender 3 instead of the Flashforge Adventurer 3.The Flashforge has a friendly touch interface that allows for seamless printing. The adventurer 3D comes with an integral 3D printing resource platform, with the ability to get more storage online, backup and share files, interact with others, transfer, monitor and manage multiple printers effortlessly.  Overall the Adventurer 3D is the perfect purchase for level entry users who want to explore the 3D printing world.

One of the advantages of the Adventurer 3D is its automatic filament feeding system. Due to the enclosed design you can place the filament inside one of the compartments of the machine and it will automatically extract the filament. This feature outweighs the entire DIY process because essentially you can Print and Go with the Flashforge Adventurer 3. The automatic filament feeding system allows the printer to detect and start loading the filament automatically and suspend printing should the filament become broken or snapped. This is a feature that supersedes the experience the Ender 3. However, with Ender 3s open source structure you can add multiple upgrades to the printer which you would not be able to do for the Flashforge Adventurer 3.

Now the final question that you are asking is what printer is better and worth the purchase? It boils down to what you are looking for in your printing experience. If you are more of a DIY person that loves the hands-on experience, then the Ender 3 is your best option which also has a larger build capacity than the Adventurer. If you are looking for a simple print and go printer without the hassle of assemble and other nuances, then for a few hundred bucks more the Adventurer 3 would be your best option.