Good morning to everyone!!
It’s time for me to buy my first 3D printer!! I would like you to help me to choose one, with a budget not above 500$! I found between all these two: - flash forge Finder
- wanhao i3 v2
In my opinion the best is wanhao for its price, different materials and quality of printing. But I’m worried about the issues related to the Wanhao and the Finder is more reliable. I accept of course other tips 
I anxiously await a reply!!
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Hi there!
I don’t have much personal experience with Wanhao, but can assure you that FlashForge print quality and variety of material is just as good, if not better than Wanhao prints I’ve seen. All the images I currently have up on my Hub were of prints done with my FlashForge, and I’ve printed every material I can get my hands on with it with a really high success rate.
What are your end objectives for getting a printer, as in what do you want to print (models, trinket, prototyping, etc.), what material will you print the most, required features, etc? I’d also suggest looking at the Monoprice Maker series, the Maker Select is more or less a re-packaged Wanhao I3 that costs less. I know a few people who have one and they seem to be pretty reliable machines with nice print quality.
Thank you for the answer!
I’d like to print everything, perhaps more gadget and things for home. The wanhao has a wider availability of materials, instead with the Finder you can print only PLA.
The first question is that the wanhao has too much issues and I would not keep working on it, because as my first printer I would a simple one.
The second is that I don’t know if the quality of Finder is the same of the Wanhao and if only PLA can be enough for what I’d like to print.
And thank you for the advice.
PS: Do you think that I should wait and than buy a Flashforge Dreamer?
Ah right, my apologies, I was thinking of the FF Dreamer not Finder!
If you want to print more functional and mechanical objects (gears, handles, etc.), you’ll probably want to be able to print in ABS or PETG instead of just PLA. ABS is stronger and more flexible than PLA, but you will not be able to easily print ABS on the Wanhao either. Where the Finder is limited because of hot-end temperatures and the lack of heated bed, the Wanhao is an open air printer, which is a big no no with ABS. If you wanted to print ABS with the Wanhao, you’d have to build some kind of enclosure around the printer to prevent drafts and temperature fluctuations, which will cause the ABS to warp and curl as it prints.
The quality of the print is going to depend a lot on you, and how much time you put into tweaking settings until it’s just right, especially with ABS. Looking at images of prints from both the Wanhao and the Finder, they seem to be of similar quality so I wouldn’t be too concerned with that. But remember, the pictures you see on websites and from the manufacturers are printed by people who know what they’re doing and know their machines like the back of their hand. So don’t be too disappointed if prints don’t look perfect at first!
If you wanted to save a bit more, you could get a refurbished dreamer for around $800 (mine was a refurbished model and she runs like a champ). In my opinion, this is well worth it; the printer has a dual head extruder to begin with so you won’t have to upgrade to dual in the future when you’re more comfortable printing complex objects. Dual extrusion is great because it allows you to print two different materials at the same time, like ABS with dissolving filament for support.
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Thank you so much for your exhaustive answer!
I think that I could wait and buy a better printer, so as to avoid issues related to different materials and quality!
But now, I have another question, in addition to FF Dreamer, what do you think about the wanhao duplicator 6 or the Robo 3D R1?
Because my objectives are a very good print quality and a 3D printer simple to use.
Of course! It’s very frustrating to try to learn on a sub-par machine, and seeing as this is your first printer, I don’t want you to be turned off to the hobby because of a machine that doesn’t behave as expected.
I don’t have any personal experinece with the Robo or the Wanhao, but plenty of people out there do! The Wanhao 6 is essentially a clone of the Zortrax M200 printer, and it seems to be a good machine that’s nicely built; here’s a Google group discussing the Duplicator 6 Redirecting to Google Groups. For the Robo, I’d suggest spending some time on the Robo forums (ROBO 3D User Forum) and maybe even write a post or two asking users what they think of them, ease of use, maintenance, etc.
For all of them (as well as any other printer that may catch your eye), you can also check out reviews here, on 3D Hubs Best 3D Printer Guide 2023 | Hubs. Pay close attention to the printers labeled “Plug ‘n’ play”, as these are going to be the easiest to get up and running immediately.
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It depends on the type of printer you want. Both are great printers for the money but do you want to tinker or do you just want to print? The Wanhao is a great printer if you want to tinker with your printer to improve it over time. The Finder is more of a printer for first timers because it works well right out of the box with minimal tinkering. I went through the same choice you are right now and I personally went with the Finder because I wanted something more portable to bring back and forth to college and I really don’t have the time or money to be tinkering with a printer. Also the print quality is amazing right out of the box which I love. Honestly either way you cant go wrong it just depends on what type of printer you want!
Good evening @PaoloGar
Here’s another contender for the mix - not many know it is out yet, but the i3 PLUS has been released from preorder. We shipped off around twenty this week all around the world. Looks pretty good so far. There’s some smaller tweaks to the electronics, PSU is shifted, giving it a slightly bigger build volume & there’s a touch screen, filament holder - alot of little difference but the main benefit we can see is device lifetime. https://beautiful3dprinters.com/products/duplicator-i3-plus
AS @Enza3D so aptly said, the D6 isortrax M200 clone. For a chinese printer, it’s exceptional quality with stellar reviews. Bit more expensive then an i3 or FF but there are obviously reasons for it.
Here’s a link to the D6 and I3 PLUS on our store (disclaimer). If you’d like to send me an email I could potentially do you a good discount on a D6 model - mason@beautiful3dprinters.com. Might be able to throw in a free enclosure kit. (new add-on which encloses the build zone)
All the best 
Shoot me an email if there’s anything I can help with!
Mason Robb,
Beautiful 3D Printers
