MakerBotReviews of makerbot.com

I have been using the MakerBot Replicator+ for about 3 months now and I have to say its a good printer, is has quality prints with limited stringing and the overall structure design is fantastic but there are some drawbacks. For the price, it is easy to setup and use out of the box but there a ALOT of options out there that you can purchase for a faction of the price that can do the same thing. The biggest thing you end up paying for is the extruder which I have to say is excellent quality and easy for switching filament. Speaking of filament, you have to use the MakerBot filament if you want to use the holder for it unless you transfer filament to their special sized roll (not to mention MakerBot filament is twice as expensive with no difference that I could tell). On to the software, you have to use MakerBot's software suite to print which produces mcode files instead of gcode like every other printer on the market. This software also severely limits the printing customization that you can do such as adjusting flow rates for dimensional accuracy or any other rates software like Cura allow you to change to really get your printer printing at its best. To sum it up, good printer but is expensive and requires you to your their proprietary everything (software, filament)

There are so many low-cost machines out there and so many reviews. I run a busy machine shop. We have an old Stratasys Dimension BST768 which is an awesome workhorse, however, there's no service contract on it. We can't live without a 3D printer. The MakerBot is the only machine in it's price range that I trusted enough to purchase. It may not have the best resolution but it works everytime and there are no daily struggles like some of the low-cost solutions (i.e. Formlabs)

We have had problems with your product but you have worked to fix them so that is good and so far things are okay. You recently upgraded the software and we need help with the transition. We just wish customer service was more responsive.

The initial purchase of the Makerbot was a little stressful. Once the purchase was made, things have been fairly good. We have had problems since day one with the build platform. The automatic leveling has not worked well from the beginning.

The order was great but I wish you had the maker club back again. :(

Extruders have been my only problem. When I first received the Makerbot, I went through multiple extruders until the Extruder+ was received. I was not aware of the Extruder+ until someone at a technology convention told me about it. Upon returning from the convention, I was able to obtain an Extruder+ and it was better. I still had some clogs but not as often.

I am a high school teacher that uses MakerBot in his designs classes. We own 5 printers at this time. Our MakerBot mini has not worked right since we bought it a year ago. The thing I find most discouraging about MakerBot is with its assistance and repair policies. I don't feel I should have to pay another sum of money to get technical assistance. Then on repairs you have to buy a policy for each machine to cover repairs. Schools don't have the money to spend on these things. Also I don't like the fact that if I send my unit in I get a reconditioned printer back. As far as use of machines and printing it as good as it gets. Our MakerBot Replicator + has been flawless.

Makerbot is an OK 3D printing company. The tech support is not as helpful as they probably should be. I am glad Stratasys bought them because before they were worse.