Best 3D Printer for a Beginner in 2021? The Winner is the Creality Ender 3 V2!

Creality Ender 3 V2 vs Dremel DigiLab 3D45 for The Beginner’s First 3D Printer

A Buyer’s Guide For Your First 3D Printer!

Before purchasing our first 3D printer we did a lot of research to determine which 3D printer would be the right one for us to start our 3D printing journey. We read a ton of reviews and watched a lot of YouTube videos. That’s when we first learned about the Creality Ender 3 series of 3D printers. We purchased the newest version of the printer series at the time – which was the Ender 3 Pro. Since then Creality has improved the Ender 3 series and released the Ender 3 V2.

The Creality Ender 3 V2 is the best “cheap” 3D printer in 2021 for beginners (like us) – who are cost conscious (with a budget of less than $300), don’t mind having to assemble a printer, and value the flexibility an open-source 3D printer like the Creality Ender 3 series offers in terms of the ability to make future modifications & improvements. It is a tremendously capable 3D printer with a large and active community. It offers a surprisingly large build area for such an inexpensive 3D printer and is a great choice for beginner’s first 3D printer – as long as they don’t expect the Champaign experience at beer prices.

The case for the Dremel 3D 45 3D printer. The Dremel DigiLab 3D45 would be a better choice for a first 3D printer for a beginner that leans more towards convenience versus value, wants a fully enclosed print area, has a budget closer to $1,500 (as opposed to $300), prefers for the printer to be completely assembled and just wants to start printing right away. The Dremel DigiLab 3D45 offers a more refined experience – but at a significantly higher price point. It also does not offer the same flexibility in terms of future upgrade potential and the build plate is significantly smaller.

Introduction

3D printing is growing FAST in popularity -and there are a lot of new entries into the market within the last couple of years. Established companies are starting to realize this as a lucrative market – and thus we are starting to see an explosion of printer choices available to the consumer.

If you are looking for the best 3D Printer for children – please check out this post: Best First 3D Printers for Children 8-12 Years Old.

Dremel – an established & well respected tool manufacturer, is now producing 3D printers as is even Polaroid! More choices is generally good for us as consumers (more competition = lower prices) – but it also means filtering through more information to make an informed decision!

We were aware of the Creality Ender 3 series (V1, Pro & now V2) early on in our search for a 3D printer – and it is what we came back to even after looking at many of the newer and more expensive models that have recently come out. Although we settled on it for the printer we would purchase to begin our 3D printing journey – your situation, priorities and goals may be different than ours and may dictate that a different printer may be a better choice for you!

Please read on and we will go through the reasons we chose to purchase the Creality Ender 3 Pro (and would now choose the Creality Ender 3 V2), the pros and cons we identified with this printer as well as what we liked & disliked about the Dremel DigiLab 3D45 which was the other printer we seriously considered – if budget was of no concern!

Creality Ender 3 Series (V1, Pro & Now the Ender 3 V2) 3D Printers

The Creality Ender 3 series of 3D printers debuted in March of 2018 with the original Ender 3 model. The Ender 3 proved to be popular in the DIY 3D printing community – which was looking for the best & cheapest 3D printer to get into 3D printing with. The original Creality Ender 3 was quickly improved upon and followed by the Ender 3 Pro as its successor in September 2018. In June of 2020 Creality released the Ender 3 V2 – which further advanced the Ender 3 series with additional improvements & refinements.

All 3 printers in the Creality Ender 3 series can still be purchased, and are definitely worthy of consideration if you are looking for a cheap 3D printer to start your 3D printing journey with. The original Ender 3 remains a highly capable machine that is largely unrivaled at it’s price-point. At the other end of the Series – the Ender 3 V2 is the more refined and sophisticated younger sibling that costs slightly more than the original. The Ender 3 Pro – sits in-between those 2 siblings – both in terms of refinement and sophistication – as well as price.

Ender 3 versus the Ender 3 Pro

The improvements of the Ender 3 Pro over the previous model, the Ender 3, included an upgraded power supply (Mean Well / UL certified), a removable magnetic build plate, a new y axis frame design to provide more stability, a resume print function to pick up where the print left off in the event of a power failure and an upgraded extruder design to reduce the risk of clogging and inconsistent extrusion.

Ender 3 Pro versus Ender 3 V2

The Ender 3 V2 further improves upon the Ender 3 Pro with an updated sheet metal injection design and better cable and wire management. The screen on the printer has been upgraded to a 4.3 inch color screen as opposed to the original 3.25 inch monochrome screen. The print bed/build plate remains the same size – but has also been upgraded to a tempered glass bed and now has an integrated storage bin in the base. Finally, a tensioner has been added to adjust the tightness of the belts, the motherboard is now silent with an updated chip set, and a knob has been added to the extruder assembly to make feeding the filament into the assembly a little easier.

Pros:

Cost (very inexpensive):
- The original Creality Ender 3 should run right around $200, or a little less. (Current Amazon price here). It is one of the best cheap 3D printers you can buy!
- You can usually find a Creality Ender 3 Pro on Amazon for about $240 – $270. I purchased one from Amazon Warehouse Deals for $196 in January 2020. Prices change often – so click here to check the latest price and see if there are any Amazon Warehouse Deals available.
- The newer more refined Creality Ender 3 V2 should be available for about $285 on Amazon (Click here to see current pricing).
Large Build Plate: Dimensions of the build plate are 220mm (width) x 220mm (depth) x 250mm (height). BIG for such an inexpensive printer! Compare this to the Dremel which is 255mm (10 inches) (width) x 170mm (6.7 inches) (depth) x 155mm (6 inches) (height).
Removable Magnetic Build Plate: We wanted a magnetic bed that would be easy to remove and replace. The removable part of the bed should also be flexible – so you can twist it to “pop” off the model after printing as opposed to having to scrape it off with a spatula or razor – which would obviously be a concern if the printer is to be used by children! PLEASE NOTE: The Ender 3 Pro comes with the magnetic build plate, and the newer Ender 3 V2 comes with a tempered glass plate.
Heated Build Plate: A heated build plate can really help with adhesion of your model to the build plate. This will be especially important if we want to print with filaments like ABS or nylon. I’m not sure that we will – but it is nice to have the option – especially after adding the Octopi – which will allow us to monitor and control the printer from a separate room!
Open Source: We like Linux as an operating system and open source in general! The ability to have the community add / improve the printer without relying on the manufacturer is a positive!
Automatic Resume: We will have kids using the printing and thought it would be important to minimize potential frustrations! Nobody wants to start a interrupted print off from scratch if they don’t have to!
Ability to Use Octopi: The Octopi (Octoprint) is a neat way to boost the feature of this printer! It allows you to control and monitor the printer remotely. Add a cheap web cam and you can also see your build as it progresses AND make time-lapse videos of your more interesting prints! Pretty Cool! (See my post on building an OctoPi here: Making an OctoPi (OctoPrint) from a Raspberry Pi – Remote Control Your 3D Printer!)
No Proprietary Filament Spool or Filament Necessary: Some of the newer printers coming out sport some neat features like having an RFID tag on its spools – so the printer automatically identifies the filament type. Great! — but if you want to avail yourself of that feature – you are often locked into purchasing proprietary filament and spools – which will undoubtedly be more EXPENSIVE!
Huge Community: A big & active community is definitely a plus when purchasing a 3D printer and starting in this new hobby! It’s great to have more experienced users to turn to for solutions, ideas and troubleshooting strategies!

Cons:

Not Enclosed: This printer does NOT have an enclosed build area / case. So if you have kids that will be around this printer you want to make sure they stay away from the moving and HOT surfaces! We will probably be building a plexi-glass enclosure around our printer (and it will probably be the subject of a future post!)
Requires a Little More Tweaking & Effort to Use Effectively: Some of the more expensive printers hold your hand a little more than this one will. We were OK with that – since this is a hobby for us and learning about how to control more aspects of the printing process is not necessarily being viewed, by us, as a negative.
Not the Slickest User Interface: Some of the more expensive printers have a more visually appealing user interface and screen on the printer. Again – this was not a very big deal to use – because we plan on interacting with the printer as much as possible through the OctoPi.

Verdict on the Creality Ender 3 Series:

With regards to bang for the buck – the entire Creality Ender 3 series really stands out! They are very capable 3D printers for a very modest price, have a large & active community of users, and are open source. They are a great value for beginners – who are cost conscious, don’t mind having to assemble the printer and value the flexibility an open source 3D printer offers in terms of the ability to make future modifications & improvements.

Dremel DigiLab 3D45

The Dremel DigiLab 3D45 3D printer is VERY expensive compared to the Creality Ender 3 Pro – costing about 7 TIMES more! (January 2021 cost ~ $1,899, click here to check out the current price on Amazon. This printer is a great value @ $1,599 – which is what the printer was selling for in December of 2020)

I would consider this a high-end option for the average consumer. But with that higher price comes some additional features & convenience. Like I said earlier – we liked this printer! However. for the beginner with a BUDGET – is the convenience and the additional features worth paying that much more for the printer? We didn’t feel so – although we were tempted! (You may feel differently)

Pros:

Slick User Interface: Relatively easy to navigate the 4.5 inch (diagonal) color touch screen with its clear icons and well thought-out layout. However, there has been criticism that the screen contrast is poor – because of poor color choices for the menu / icons and that the screen itself is not that responsive to touch.
Cloud /Web Features: Allows you to monitor the status of your print – and even start, stop & pause print jobs. You can even see the temperatures and the amount of filament remaining on the spool. Finally, there is slicing functionality built into the cloud features that allows you to move, rotate and scale models right from the cloud interface. This would be especially helpful if managing more than one printer!
Semi Auto-Leveling Print Bed: Leveling the print bed can be one of the most frustrating aspects of 3D printing – so having this assisted is a positive – but it is NOT fully automated!
Enclosed Print Chamber: Helps protect little fingers if kids are going to be using or near this printer. The enclosed chamber also makes it possible to have an activated carbon filtration system.
Activated Carbon Filtration System: Great for eliminating some of the smells & unhealthy VOC fumes associated with 3D printing – especially ABS filament.
Uses CURA Software: Earlier versions of Dremel printers featured proprietary software for slicing that was weak. Now Dremel 3D printers feature Cura slicing software with Dremel presets for the 3D45. Cura slicing software is considered by many to be the gold standard – so this is a positive move by Dremel!
Built-in Camera: To monitor builds & create time-lapse videos. Camera resolution in 720p.
Good Documentation / Instructions: Many 3D printers (including the Creality Ender 3Pro) suffer from poor documentation & instructions – but not this Dremel! Both the printed documentation and the online resources are very good!
Filament Runout Detection: Nicer feature – but a little superfluous.
Removable & Heated Print Bed: The print bed is glass, heated, removable & snaps securely in place. Convenient to use remove your prints from the printer.
Dremel / Bosch – Established & Well Known Tool Companies: Reputations matter! Some peace of mind in purchasing because of these companies strong reputations.

Cons:

Cost / Very Expensive: This is the SINGLE BIGGEST NEGATIVE to this printer! It costs nearly 7 times as much as the very capable Creality Ender 3 Pro!
Smaller Build Plate: The build plate area of the Dremel DigiLab 3D45 is 255mm (10 inches) (width) x 170mm (6.7 inches) (depth) x 155mm (6 inches) (height) as compared to 220mm x 220mm x 250mm for the Creality Ender 3 series.
Can’t Easily Use Generic Filament: This is the SECOND BIGGEST NEGATIVE! Dremel seemingly goes out of its way to make it difficult to use ANYTHING OTHER than their proprietary filament! The proprietary filament of course cost more – but it does have an rfid tag to enable the printer to automatically detect the type of filament loaded. The spools are also proprietary and a non-standard size – so if you want to use generic filament – you will have to jury-rig a solution to be able to feed the filament into the printer – since a standard spool is too large to fit into the filament enclosure!
Noisey: The activated Carbon filtration system incorporates a fan – which is another source of noise – making this unit a little noisier than it otherwise would be.
No Direct WiFi: – To remotely connect to this printer you need to go through the cloud feature – and can’t connect directly to the printer.
No Phone App: In this day & age you would kind of expect a higher-end printer such as this to include a phone app – but that is not the case with Dremel 3D printers!

Verdict on the Dremel DigiLab 3D45:

The Dremel DigiLab 3D45 is a really nice 3D printer for those who value convenience over cost or have a budget range between $1,000 – $2,000, the printer comes fully assembled, has a fully enclosed build area, an integrated camera, and an activated charcoal filtration system to mitigate potentially hazardous fumes. However, these features come at a significant cost. (See current prices here and if there are any Amazon Warehouse Deals available) Budget conscience beginners should look elsewhere (Like maybe the Creality Ender 3 series)!

Conclusion

We felt many of the features we liked best about the Dremel DigiLab 3D45 printer could be essentially replicated with modifications & adjustments to the Creality Ender 3 series printers – for cheaper than what the cost differential is between the two printers.

Both the Creality Ender 3 series of printers and the Dremel DigiLab 3D45 are very good 3D printers – but if you are more cost sensitive than convenience oriented at this point, the Creality Ender 3 V2 would be a better choice to start your 3D printing journey!

UPDATE (January 2021): We updated this post to reflect the Ender 3 V2. Our analysis remains the same with regards to the Creality Ender 3 series versus the Dremel DigiLab 3D45. Since the Ender 3 V2 was NOT AVAILABLE at the time we started our 3D printing journey – it was obviously not something we could consider. At this point in time we WOULD be willing to spend the small additional incremental amount for the Ender 3 V2 as compared to the Ender 3 Pro – with some reservations only in regards to giving up the magnetic build plate. We like the magnetic build plate – but do recognize that both the magnetic and the tempered glass build plates each have their own pros and cons – which may very well be the subject of a future post!

Sincerely,