The media could not be loaded. All of the potential to be an excellent machine. 90% assembled as stated, final assembly and initial set up took less than an hour. Printed both benchmarks on the included micro SD card with zero adjustments or tuning. Both turned out excellent. A slicer program was included on the card which I used for both benchmarks, then switched over to Cura and re-printed both benchmarks. Again, with no adjustments or tweaking, excellent quality prints.

This was where my troubles began. There are two cooling fans with the unit as it comes stock. One of them directly cools the hot end, and the other is mounted next to the hot end on a bracket, with a 3-D printed duct to cool the nozzle. About halfway through the third benchmark test, and a total printer run time of less than seven hours, the ducted nozzle fan stopped working. 10 minutes later, it started spinning again but it sounded as though either the fan bearings were bad or the blades and hub had come loose on the motor shaft.

I contacted longer directly three days ago and have yet to hear back from them. I will wait a few more days and then contact Amazon directly.

I think the one I got may have just been a dud, it happens, and this machine is otherwise worthy of five stars. I will update my review pending resolution of the issue with longer or Amazon.

Update (next day): contacted Amazon directly and the only recourse seems to be disassembly and re-boxing the whole unit for a replacement, and assembling the replacement.

Update: The cooling fan on the power supply took a dump mid-print this morning. Still no reply from Longer.

Feeling frustrated. Will update review if anything changes. Do not recommend.

FINAL EDIT: I've had this unit for nearly four months. Longer eventually contacted me after a few weeks and offered to send replacement fans, but by this point, I had ordered better quality fans (and a few spares) on my own. Disassembly of the machine and power supply was simple and straightforward. I also used this opportunity to upgrade the extrusion/hit end with an aluminum kit, replaced the Bowden tube, and PC4 tube fittings with a stronger design with better grip.

These simple upgrades solved all issues I was experiencing with the machine. They cost a total of $40.

Current run time on the machine is approaching 600 hours. Zero complaints since the upgrades.

Is it worth it? Absolutely. Print area is huge for the price. Worked with minimal tweaking right out of the box. Upgrades were simple to do. It just runs "” and it runs quite a bit. Their fan supplier might stink, but I feel it was money well spent.

I had issues with the filament runout sensor and a bad print head. Longer support reached out promptly to address the issues. They even shared my experience with their engineering team to mitigate these issues on future versions of their product. Great customer support.

This is my first 3d printer and I was pretty excited and I made a few mistakes. When the box arrived I noticed the Printer was a little heavier and larger than I expected, which was good. This feels more like a machine than a toy. There is a micro SD card that comes with this, I didn't realize at first but there are instructional videos on the card that are very helpful in putting everything together. Seeing all the parts seemed daunting but it only took about 40 minutes to put the whole thing together. It comes with some filament, but you're definitely gonna want to buy more. I recommend watching the videos provided to understand how to level the printer properly. Leveling is key in getting it to print properly. There is a lot to learn and I'm excited for my new hobby!

This system is really great, especially considering the cost. Took about an hour to get running but I use these for work so I do have some prior experience. If you have not done this before, this is a decent starting point. You would get more hands-on with a RepRap kit but that can be intimidating if you don't have an electromechanical background. Even so, the LK5 gives you a more advanced platform and you also won't be running into trouble with things like fuses constantly blowing, extrusion issues or tables never leveling.

You could spend thousands on something like a MakerBot and get features that are absolutely useless unless you're running a commercial farm (I can print from my phone! but someone still needs to prep the surface so no one cares...) or you can buy this and use the savings on everything else. The extruder works great, the stock metal hotend works great, the glass mat works great, the mechantronics are accurate, reliable and consistent, and the touchscreen interface is actually a lot better than I expected. Right off the bat you have access to a decent utility suite that will run you through just about everything. The only "problem" I have encountered is refresh related. If you are changing a temp and the system is not at the original temp yet, it will have to reach the old setpoint before it displays the progress on the new setpoint. In other words, it will occasionally look like it is not registering commands depend on how you do things but I have found that it is, and will update when it works through the command stack. I consider it a non-issue and it's really not enough to ding any points. Just pay attention. Lastly, the build volume is crazy for the price. This (and the stock hotend) is the main reason I bought the thing and as soon as I get my larger nozzles I plan on using all of it.

Standard material issues apply, of course. Do some research and read about polymers. Build a shroud, use some hairspray/glue, understand when you shouldn't use a fan, etc. Do a little legwork and out-of-the-box you can print some relatively high-temperature materials with little frustration. Very few printers will let you print things like ABS or Nylon with zero understanding or input from the user and these are very expensive. On the other hand, all printers with capable hotends will print these materials successfully so long as the user puts in the effort. Be one of those people.

As far as my personal use, I actually bought it for sci-fi pop culture models and paintable miniatures and the LK5 works great. Depending on the size I use a .1 or .2 setting and then finish with conventional methods like sanding or in the case of the miniatures I carefully use acetone fuming. Occasionally I make functional parts for work but only if we're at capacity (and only if they pay me!). Whether you are looking to settle for a less-capable $250 model or you are considering a $750+ I would absolutely recommend giving the LK5 consideration. This is an exceptional platform with few issues.

I am very happy with the quality prints that I've gotten from this printer. Once I leveled the bed it has printed pretty flawless for me.. and the process for leveling the bed was pretty simple too. For the price I feel like you can't go wrong with this 3d printer.