Please don’t flame me. I am interested in your opinions.
With the rapid advance in hobbyist 3d Printers, laser engravers, and milling machines, can Snapmaker keep up?
I really like the quality of the snapmaker. However, the gap between snapmaker and stand alone machines seems to be widening. I think this gap will continue to grow.
I really like the machine, admire the quality, and am about ready to buy one
However, I am starting to worry it will get left behind in the 3d printer, cnc, and laser engraver arms race that is going on.
Fully agree with @Wyphorn - the USP of most Snapmaker machines is the 3-in-1. Taking the price of an Artisan, dedicated machines may not even be so much more expensive, but as dedicated machines they are usually faster and better at their jobs. So it is more about saving space, or if you go for the venerable Snapmaker 2.0, with nowadays prices you may save money, but you get a product with known limitations.
That said, with Ray and J1 Snapmaker has dedicated machines of their own. I cannot say anything about their quality in comparison to the competition - I know a few things where I personally think that the Snapmaker engineers have some limits (which may of course change), but is the competition better? Difficult to say. If it comes to 3D printing, I can safely say that there are at least two machines that put anything Snapmaker has to shame, and that’s the Bambulab X1 and the Prusa XL. Especially the Bambulab has a level of innovation that I guess most of the competition has yet to catch up with.
Final words: Always think how ambitious your projects and scope are. I personally am a pure hobbyist - I can easily accept the shortcomings of my Snapmaker 2.0, as I have no pressure to deliver to a client or so. On the other hand, I do not want to pay too much for my hobby - so even if I know that dedicated machines would bring faster, more satisfying results, I cannot justify the expense.
I am not sure about the price. When you buy three 400x400 Machines Like the Artisan, I dont think you will get three machines cheaper. Especially with enclosure.
And with view of the “gap” between snapmaker and standalones: this Gap IS expensive and you will never end with Artisan price when you buy good machines. CNC milling should be always as big as possible and you will have to get cool Features like Tool length sensor, Vacuum bed, Tool switcher, … on 3in1 Nobody will expect that. When I would buy dedicated Laser Machine, i would chose CO2 laser of omtech. And a Bamboo. But then i need a lot of space, espacially for a real CNC. And much more money. So i Just keep my snapmakers
While I have the space for dedicated machines, I am drawn to the snapmaker. I guess I am drawn to what I believe is a very innovative premium built product.
I personally have a soft spot for multi-tools. My grandpa taught me to wood work on his old 5-in-1 ShopSmith, and I liked the idea of having a 3-in-1 machine.
I’m a hobby user, without much room. I might be able to fit an Artisan on my desk, but not 3 machines that size.
Some of the promise of the Original was a very solid and easy to use machine. I assembled it, calibrated it, and it’s been rock solid ever since. The 2.0 and Artisan were a little more work to setup and keep running. I don’t know if that was intentional or not, but it seems like the latest machines aren’t as newbie friendly as they could be.
They are beautiful all in one machines, but the software support and firmware issues have meant it’s a bit of a paper-weight compared to a well engineered single purpose machine. I guess it costs a heck of a lot to maintain focus on so many models and functions that usually the latest and greatest gets all the software attention.
The pricing is also a bit wild, and hasn’t come down much even after 3 later models (I have A350 + 10W laser, and some SM originals) so much so that I haven’t got the rotary yet (also people have major troubles using it) nor the air purifier (I’d rather keep the extra $1000 than have both those accessories).
