That thing for the most part just works, with little to no maintenance required. There are a few pain points however:
1. The hotend features an MK8-style heat sink, but not the standard one. The heat break is screwed in. Finding replacement parts can be a bit of an act.
2. The heat break is one of those with a 3mm (yes three, not four) outer diameter PTFE tube inset. That thing has a habit of burning and needing to be replaced every now and then. It's not a big deal, but it's something you have to keep in mind. That kind of tube size is not something one has casually lying around, but is easy enough to aquire.
3. The part fan shroud is cooling the print only from one side. You know what to do there.
4. The printer does not come with a filament guide from the roll to the print head by default. So the angle is rather steep if you have nothing else there. I recommend printing an elephant for that. You'll know what it looks like when you search for it on thingiverse.
Somewhat neutral:
1. The bed size. I can feel the missing 20mm in a few projects. But that is more of a personal thing. A smaller bed can be slung around faster.
2. The display is set up vertically. If you replace the firmware with Marlin (which is quite easy to do. The board is a 32-bit Robin Nano 35 variant) then you might want to unscrew the screen and place it horizontally. There are already mods for that you can print, however. So merely an inconvenience if you mod it.
3. No filament runout sensor. It is easy enough to add one after the fact, however. The board has a plug specifically for that feature, but you do need to make some firmware changes to make use of it. It does not natively do so.
4. The filament roll holder consists of two rails with bearings on them, where you place the roll on top of. I really don't like those, but that is more of a preference thing. A replacement was easy enough to find and print.
That said; time for the positives!
1. The printer is built like a brick. That cantilevered design had me worried at first, but that thing is so sturdy, I could kick it across the room and it would be unfazed. Impressive. No sagging either after a few months of use at this point.
2. The linear rails make for quite a smooth printing experience. They do need some oil once in a while, though. It depends on what the air in your printing room is like.
3. The Z-offset uses a little screw to set the distance of the nozzle to the bed. That is only something I've seen in older Anycubic models. No idea why that disappeared. It's a handy feature.
4. The power brick is external to the printer, so you can place it where it is most convenient to you. It's not something to typically mention, but for a printer this small it's actually useful to have that option.
So final verdict: Absolutely capable of being a workhorse printer, with a very good premise and build quality. It's sturdy and it's got brain space. But it does need a variety of small adjustments and additions, printed or otherwise, to elevate it.
All in all, can recommend.
