I don't do reviews for my channel but I do make projects with printers and resins. I have turned down multiple resin companies and printers when they ask for a positive video, and they ask to review the video before it is release to make adjustments. First of all it is a lot of work to film and edit a video already, and then having to change parts of it because they don't like it.. Yeah no thanks. I have also had been told if I don't I won't get a collaboration in the future, this is just there way of saying you get no more free things. That is fine, not working with these companies is better in the long run. The content creator is a lot cheaper to advertise through then buying ads to sell their products, and for some reason these companies think they can tell creators what to do. There are very good companies out there as well, I have worked with ones that accept everything you have to say and say have at it. They take on bad points and attempt to fix them and work with you. But, I would like to let other creators know that you have more power then you think when dealing with these companies. Please let them kindly know that those terms are not right and you won't be able to agree, if enough creators keep doing it then they will have to cave if they ever want their products to be shown.
As a reviewer I agree 100% with you. When you say good things the brand haters will blow you up, if you say bad things the brand lovers you blow you up either. But most important is to be clear with who send you the products to review, I'm not selling my opinion, I'll make a content based on my experience and tell everything that happens when using the product, period. One very important thing some brand doesn't understand is: Telling the audience the negative points is not negative for the product, will always have people that don't care about the negative point you said, and they will buy it fully aware of what they will receive, and those people will be happy, because they know what to expect, simple as that. Keep doing your great job, I love your videos!!!
I would go farther with what you said about negatives on any kind of tech. I won't believe a review that has nothing negative to say. Tech has its flaws and room to grow, always. I'm ok with that, I just wanna know what the tradeoffs are before I buy in. I'm not comfortable with a purchase without knowing both the good and the bad. If the bad is hidden, it just feels like not enough information at best, and deception at worst.
This is spot on. So many times I am seeing "reviewers" go from being honest and then being a simp for a certain brand because they are suddenly sponsored by the company. Example: 3 Professor, He went from saying Bambu printers were not equal to all the hype they get. then they sponsor him and SNAP! Now he says there is nothing else to use.....Its a bunch of nonsense. It should be illegal for someone to "review" printers or goods from companies that are paying them or giving them free stuff
@@Chrissi33004 Not currently. He really doesn't review printers as much as he used to (unless it's from a brand he personally likes). Most of his current videos are highlighting new stuff whether it's printer parts or projects related to 3D printing which honestly is a smart move. Most mainstream printers now are samey with overall improved with reliability.
@@boazjoe1 I've been handed "review terms" from manufacturers that I very much would never sign. It's surprising how many of them want you to review their product, but also want editorial control.
You just can’t know if these FLSUN comments are really from bots they paid or if it’s from a competitor. But the game is pretty easy. Reviewers need free samples from companies. If they say the product is bad, they won’t get another one. For the company, a good review video is pure gold: They don’t have to make a video by themselves, they don’t need to pay for pushing video ads. A good review is like 10x cheaper than doing it yourself and the more views, the better. And money… it’s pretty common to pay for things. This is older than the internet, each magazine does ads and reviews from the products of the same company. As a company, it’s also OK to review the video before because there could be real problems or false information in it. That’s bad for the company, but also bad for the reviewer because if all reviews are good, he will be an idiot if his review is bad. That’s a common strategy to align reviews, like „everyone else tested it and they were happy, maybe your test is bad“… Some reviewers just get paid for other things, like making photos or some other things. Some reviewers just get invited for a holiday. Others sell ads like Instagram stories, 10000 dollar for 4 stories as an example from bigger tech influencers is pretty normal. And there are bigger magazines/channels/influencers which tell you how much you have to invest in ads for getting a good place in a test. There are also some people doing a great job and reviews. But not that much. Problem is being first to produce content, not much time to test, not testing too bad because you won’t get any products from this company. Good and real tests: Buy the product for testing if you want to test products. Companies normally will send hand picked products to testers. If you buy the product, you can tell what you want and if it’s shitty enough maybe even return it. You will learn how companies deal with normal people in support. But you won’t know anything before a product launched and your video will be too late… you have to rely on other income to do so. I can‘t name more than 4 channels doing things great and don’t rely on a company’s goodwill. 2 of them 3d printing, 1 photo and 1 hardware channel. How I know? Worked on both sides 😂
Finally, someone's talking about this! Last year, I was looking for a beginner-friendly 3D printer on RUclips and got misled by a bunch of videos. No one warned me about the issues with the bambu P1 and how lousy their after-sales service is. I respect every content creator's work, but I guess I need to step up my own judgment game
What issues? I've got a few hundred hours on my p1s and thre only prints that have failed have been my own fault. I've only today just replaced the nozzle 1st wiper (which was supplied).
@@BojanSusic-qi4qn vjv ti je filament u kurcu.. imam nekoliko a1, a1 mini i p1s printera i niti s jednim nemam problema. Preko 1000 sati printanja, i sve radi.
@@BojanSusic-qi4qn Im not the biggest fan of bambu, but I own an A1 mini with 800+ print hours, it prints as well as it did day 1. Theres something else going on with your machine. My vorons, and prusa machines also print like day 1. Maintaining a machine is important.
Maker's Muse did a similar video about 18 months back on the same type of phenomena he was dealing with. Quite a few 3D printer manufacturers were using these shady tactics at the time.
@@Equilion I tried to reply earlier, but I think YT deleted the post for some reason. I found the video... it's from 3 years ago (2021) and it's about the 7 deadly sins of 3d printer companies. I hope this doesn't get deleted as well.
What we need is a more grassroots platform for 3D printing hardware reviews, instead of relying on paid influencers. Instead of RUclips, there should be one go-to website for impartial 3D printer data. A place for people to post problems and find solutions, all the while building up profiles for certain printers. You’d be able to see how many hours of printing it takes before most people start to run into each issue. You’d be able to find more optimised slicer profiles or start/end g-codes. Even batch issues between serial number ranges. You’d also be able to see which manufacturers pay for bot reviews, and easily see when a reviewer has been sponsored.
Problem who is going to pay for this website, they do not come cheap. Also who is going to maintain it. Who is going to monitor what is entered? And a few other things I haven;t thought of? One big thing who is going to pay the person or persons dling ths work?
About the FLSUN, I also got the review request for their new delta printers. Since they already have several negative reviews, they are careful, and they give me some directions for the video, which I couldn't accept. Very similar to those which you explained. Good that you informed the publicity too. Thx. 5:41 yes, I can recognize those paid positive reviews, but new users don't. And I am not sure, if you know the case when a RUclipsr replied to mass email (to other youtubers too) that he will do a very positive review for $500. Other: I will write you an email about cooperation request, please reply even if you are not interested.
Shame about Qidi 4. Was looking forward to buying but thanks for the warning! I guess I’ll just have to wait for a few more months for them to resolve those issues before getting it.
Exactly, competitors have had plenty of time to "catch up" with Bambu reliability, so I wanted to believe they have, and I'm sure others feel the same. If a reviewer isn't honest, that can push people over the edge and invest poorly in another troublesome machine. Qidi fixing the 4 hopefully goes well, because even Bambu will become better to try and stay ahead. It's good for everyone.
I have a Plus 4 and before that an X Plus 3. The XP3 printed beautifully but was plagued with small problems. I hesitated on buying the Plus 4 because of my previous experience. I haven’t had the chamber heater issue with mine and I’ve printed a full roll of ASA GF, but I also haven’t opened the back panel to check the SSR to see if it’s been overheating. My experience with Qidi support has been that they are very responsive-which some people mistakenly call good-but they seem to go out of their way to avoid taking a printer back when there are obvious problems. They seem to prefer firing the parts cannon at the problem instead. There are several known hardware issues with the Plus 4-nozzle clogs, the SSR issue, and not being able to use the full build height because of a faulty design in the chamber heater itself. I’m seriously considering demanding a return but it does do an amazing job printing and handles ASA as easily as it does PLA. If I were you, I’d wait..it seems like they’re using this first batch of units as beta test machines.
Hey! Great video and thanks for the shout-out. This will probably get buried, but it's nice to see other content creators shining a light on the shady marketing practices in the industry. Great job.
Hey man, I totally feel you. Bambu took 478 quid from me and sent me a 15 quid spool of plastic. Their customer service takes ages to respond like every 3 days and they haven't taken any action to resolve my issue... Now they’ve kept my money and haven’t sent the printer I ordered. Seriously, the customer service is terrible, and you’ll just end up out of pocket. I’m posting this to warn others so they don’t get scammed like I did. Honestly, I don’t get how companies like this are allowed to keep operating.
That's a bit different than a paid review. Also very untypical for Bambu-- As you're in the UK, there are some pretty solid consumer protection laws, so I can't see how you're out of pocket. If you haven't received your printer, open a dispute with whatever payment method you used. As long as you bought from BambuLab or a reputable dealer, you should be able to get your printer or your money back. Last year in the EU, it was common to ship the filament separate from the printer (Two different fulfillment centers). I've found their customer service to be slow, but effective.
They are in China, you have zero rights - maybe best case is a chargeback request on credit card - but no company wants negative reputation or poor reviews. Just keep pestering them or do a chargeback.
@@chrisgill5692 "BambuLab LIMITED" is based in China, true. But they also registered as "BambuLab GmbH" in Germany and have a warehouse there, EU law applies
@@chrisgill5692 No, Bambu Lab has an office in the EU (In Germany, if I recall) so they are actually bound by EU consumer protection laws. Since the parent said "quid" I assume they're in the UK, so not EU, but as I understand it, the UK adopted most of the EU laws as part of Brexit.
@@johngelnaw1243 ha, you can try. Look at your receipt it will have a Chinese address even if shipped from a European office or warehouse. Always buy on a credit card.
😭But I like my T1* 🤣 Great discussion, really. But in general, making money on RUclips - without selling out - is a huge challenge. * About my T1: I do like the unit FLSUN sent me, but it was NOT perfect. I gave them feedback... and it looks like the T1 Pro fixes most of it. Anyway, it is not the first company, nor the last one, trying to control what is said about their products 🤷♂
@GeekDetour Sorry for being half snide, but another issue I have with some of you reviewers is that mechanism where if you can't do a positive review, you don't do any at all. Which tilts the overall picture since the shills don't hold back. I don't wanna speculate as to whether that's why you didn't post a review on it and "only" gave feedback to FLSun? (Maybe you did post a review in a short or somewhere else, just couldn't find anything on the main channel). Again, you may not be guilty of this, but some certainly are.
That's an excellent business model... Build a printer that has issues... fix issues with a new printer while creating new ones... Whose issues will be fixed with a new printer while creating new ones... repeat Sounds like some brands out there.
This is a good summation of a big problem....only one thing missing imo. I have seen negatively biased reviews too often. These are reviews where the RUclipsr doing the review favors anothe or other products more than the one they are reviewing. The only reason I frequently suspect are reviewing said product is because they are being compensated...if only by the views and subs on RUclips. I'm not against reporting of negative findings but when positive findings that are legit aren't mentioned, if petty irrelevant negativities are given too much play, or legit negatives not enough play then I lose all respect for the reviewer. One example I can give is when Bambu came out with their new printer AMS systems, the reviews were all glowing. These printers are not bad and their speed and multi-colour capability made them the darling of the hobby driving millions of sales. However, on HUGE issue with them imo is their waste. In many ( most?) multicolour jobs on the Bambu's, The "poop" and purge towers can be 2 - 4 times the weight of the actual model being printed. This is a fact that I have very rarely seen mentioned in passing in a review let alone flagged as a negative. So, biases are rife with online reviews...about any product and service :P
I feel like all manufacturers do this. I was totally lied to! The reviewing video told me the Bambu X1 was the best 3D printer, but honestly, it feels like a piece of junk. I bought the X1 Carbon in August 2024, right on the first day ,and right away, the machine started having issues. First, I couldn’t format or read any SD card. A week later, while I was trying to install the latest firmware update, it just stopped detecting the AMS. Bambulab’s support team had me running around checking cables and protocols, but nothing changed. So, I ended up buying a new AMS (big cost, just to see what was wrong), and it worked. The new AMS was recognized, but as soon as I installed the firmware, it crashed again and wouldn’t detect either AMS. Turns out one of the boards was the issue. Bambulab support sent me new boards and had me swap them out. They even made me change the AP board for the SD card recognition. All this at no cost, which is cool, but for the price I paid, I feel like I should’ve been able to take it to a repair shop and get it fixed under warranty.
Typo? The x1c was released in 2022. I'd generally avoid buying brand new products but the opinion on the x1c is still largely really positive in my perception. QA isn't perfect nor is their customer support. But the issue with repair shops is that they would need to have parts to do anything and if you want that level of service you'd be looking at commercial printers that are 10 times the price because those companies need to employ on-site technicians or run shops all over the globe.
That experience does not in any way seem related to me. Your story is about you having bad luck with a product, not about Bambu demanding reviewers speak positively about their products in order to get a review unit. If the X1C had been an objectively horrible product, I would agree that reviewers claiming it's "the best 3D printer" would be pretty good evidence of intentional misleading, quite possibly at the behest of Bambu. But that was not the case. Not only was the printer good, there were some pretty middling reviews from people who had poor experiences with the pre-release units. While, on average, it was very favorably reviewed, it was not a case of "forced portrayal of absolute perfection". And now we have two years worth of data showing they're great printers. I bought an X1C from the first shipment (not the kickstarter, but as soon as it was available from retailers), and I would absolutely have said "best 3D printer I have ever used" at the time myself. Now, about two years later, it's still my primary printer and apart from swapping out a funnel on the AMS (which I wore out by using abrasive filament in it without realizing it), I haven't needed to do anything whatsoever to keep it running. I'd still recommend it warmly to anyone with the budget for it, unless their needs are very different from mine.
Another issue that you didn't mention is that we get special treatment in terms of (likely) cherry picked units and tech support, and only have a sample size of 1. It makes it really hard to judge QC, reliability, and customer support, which are huge factors in whether someone has a good experience with their printer. But what is the solution?
Complete teardown, entensive long term test reports, group discussion/podacst with real machine design engineers, unity among youtube reviewers regarding terms set by manufacturers.
Tell them you will place an order as a regular consumer (under a different name), and they should reimburse you, instead of providing the unit themselves. Of course this doesn't work for pre-release reviews.
I think this is something that really needs more attention. I pre-ordered a Creality K1 based off positive reviews on youtube. My first k1 was a nightmare, both in terms of how poorly it worked and how detached Creality customer service is. The replacement k1 is a reliable machine but it has a lot of artifacts in the print. I guess the real problem is that it only takes one reviewer who needs the cash more than to maintain their integrity to cause problems. Is the 3D printing community large enough to have some kind of association, so that any member of that association, big or small, gets bound by the same set of rules? That way if a 3D printer manufacturer wants to have their unit reviewed, they have to accept the conditions of the association, regardless the size of the content creator. I suppose the theory, that an association would mean large creators would give strength to the smaller creators because they could highlight any time a company tried to unreasonably strong arm an association member.
The only solution would be to buy the devices yourself, but nobody could afford that. The manufacturers know how to manipulate reviewers without the latter realising it. The only thing you can do is to be aware of it. What many influencers don't seem to understand. They are not ‘friends’ or ‘partners’ of the manufacturers. They are a marketing tool and nothing more. If even the slightest bit of criticism goes in the direction of the manufacturer and they cut ties, you know you've just been exploited.
@@andreas.grundler Ideally, the manufacturer could put money to buy a unit in escrow. Then someone with a different name and address orders the machine, and is repaid using the escrowed money that the manufacturer can no longer track. That machine is then delivered to the tester for review. This way the manufacturer doesn't have any way of knowing which machine is going to the tester. However, there are probably some manufacturers who wouldn't agree to these terms.
Great video, and glad to hear you have the integrity to speak up about it! Anything that's labelled a "review" but dropped on day one of a product launch, to me, is simply a "first impression". A proper review needs time for adequate testing and also to see how invested the company is in fixing hardware and software issues. Perhaps we should push the community to stop labelling things as "reviews" unless they've actually used the printers routinely for ~6 months...but of course then creators won't get paid which is also a problem 😅
Appreciate the honesty my friend. Clough42, you and a few others are the only ones I trust for a review. Most of the Tubers that do reviews are either being sponsored by the company or at the very least are trying to be. Everyone wants to quit their day job and do this full time even if it requires bending the truth. I have a Qidi XMax3 and had quite a few problems with it, including having to completely rebuild the coreXY sub assembly because the screws were over tightened from the factory and cracked all the injection molded corner brackets. There were quite a few design issues with the printer and it was half baked when they started shipping. Now if I had been a reviewer that only tested for a week, I probably would have gave a glowing review. I will say that Qidi usually responded in a day or 2 and always shipped all parts I needed to make the repair. My issue is that most of the issues I had should never have reached a customer in the first place. It really is a crap shoot for every printer that is released, but there is an alarming trend of the printers being sent out to customers before they are ready and the early adopters being used as beta testers for the most part.
If a review starts with "this is the best printer" or "the only printer you'll ever need" my spider senses start to activate. I've not got a heap of experience with different brands, but one thing i can proclaim, and that is, they all break just when you need them. Made from cheap crap with working life baked in.
Yeah, or "this is the Prusa/Bambu killer" episode part 723,5. And they'll do this again, again and again. Some pretty big names are guilty of that attitude. Clough42 is a gem and he aslo showed how some brands will play dirty based on his review (Flsun), others did even redesign a complete machine and halted a launch (Qidi). So yes, there's a couple of really good guys out there, but it's dying breed.
Mine has been perfect, but there are issues for many. I definitely recommend waiting a bit to see if everything is resolved properly. It has a great base, but needs to be ironed out.
As a very small (and relatively young) channel, I agree 100% with your statements. A lot of reviewers are doing it for the views, and that is because they earn a living off of what they are doing, so the more views, the higher the remuneration from RUclips. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately LOL), I am not a full time RUclipsr, and my channel shows that, as I have very slow growth... and I'm okay with that. I don't depend on RUclips income. I have had companies send me products for review, and I am brutally honest. I don't sugar coat anything just for the sake of making good with the companies. I will not say something is good if I don't think it's good, and vice versa. I do 99% live streams, so you can see me either have success with something or struggle. I've been approached by companies to purchase their product with promises of a refund after a POSITIVE review... but I'm not that gullible. I'll keep on doing what I'm doing and have a clear conscience doing it! :)
Nailed it. Thing is, it's MUCH bigger than 3D Printers. It's an endemic problem across ALL of RUclips reviews, and YT taking away the tools creators used to have to post-publish annotate a video and hiding dislikes only exacerbates the problem.
Thanks for pointing this out. This leaves a bad taste when watching FLSUm review on other channels. And now I know the reason why this printer is not reviewed by my most favourite channels. And the channels that I watch and make a review of this printer: I don't trust them anymore
I recently got an email from, let's say, a well known earbud brand who works with RUclipsrs, asking me how much I would charge for a review. Its pretty wild that companies think they should be paying for "review" videos, having control over the content in those videos, and requiring positive feedback.
I'm not opposed to reviewers taking paid reviews. This is after all a job for many of them. I have done reviews where I received free product and payment. However, I would never do a review where I was required to say or not say anything. I either get full creative control or I don't take the deal. It's impossible to know who has integrity or who doesn't at simple face value, but once you get a feel for a channel you can tell. TNL for example I wouldn't expect a shred of credibility. NeedItMakeIt I believe I can trust. You should always aggregate your information for the best overall view.
The more I see RUclipsrs pushing any one product, the less I trust that product until it just erodes my trust or attention span entirely and then I just start ignoring that company/brand altogether heh
@@802Garage The problem is that there's complex psychology at play that they're taking advantage of just by giving you a free product, let alone actually paying you for a positive review - don't be a shill 🙂
@@3nertia I understand what is honestly very basic psychology. I hate to tell you this, but all advertising you have ever seen is paid for. A lot of RUclipsrs and social media creators would not be making content at all if they couldn't make enough money from it. I'd prefer to never take a single thing for free or be paid by any company, but wouldn't it also be nice if everything was free and I didn't have bills? I won't lie in any of my content, and I'll always disclose a relationship. The audience should always be aware to take that psychology into account as with literally all advertising. Keep in mind a review where someone bought the item themselves can be heavily biased for many reasons too.
Glad to hear someone is calling them out on their BS. And shame on those channels that aren't honest with their review in order to receive free products or money.
I came across your channel when researching the FLSUN Delta printers. And I noticed the video you posted on the bots as well! On my small channel, I do a few 3D printer reviews and I find it really interesting what companies insist on reviewing my content before publishing - which I just don't do. Granted, I rarely get the high end brands but even they are really bad at trying to control or shape the review. I see a lot of "Yes sir" types on RUclips that just echo what the manufacturer says - they are all about those affiliate commissions! I have a lot of respect for those that do like I do - say it like it is, praise where deserved and sharing what I feel are serious cons to the product.
Such an important video! I instantly subscribed! We need people like you providing transparency from the reviewer's point of view. Those FLSUN terms are brutal!
Just subbed because I saw you in a post from the next layer, Thank you for taking your time to show us the truth behind these company’s even if it means they may not enjoy working with you. We need youtubers like you!!!
Nobody should support that guy. He wants an entire nation of people labeled as less than human and eliminated. His history on social media is also shady at best.
Great video. Coming into it, maybe due to the definitive title, I thought negatively about the video but I got to say I left it on the positive side. Very honest and true ☺️
Wow, a real video by a real person and real comments. I think everyone somehow was suspecting such things going on, but it practically means to me, that established channels who do day 1 hype reviews, and do not do critical re-review some weeks later are unbased and on an other agenda than honestly informing a potential buyer. so, this video practically empowers us, and i am highly thankful. commented, liked and subscribed. something i rarely do on youtube :)
My first viewing of your channel. Quite the eye opener. This is why I love the reviews that begin by stating that they were given the printer for review, but their opinions are their own. Liked and subscribed! 👍
Thanks for sharing Taylor. I had a similar situation with a small company in China that makes smaller printers and cheap filament. They asked me to write articles on their website after finding my content on my website. The rate was acceptable but when I looked at their suggested writing as well as articles they previously published it was all AI nonsense. I went round and round and round with them to the point where I decided to kill off my personal website and block the company from my emails because it was gross practice.
Good topic and well covered. I don't have an issue with channels doing reviews for free product. I don't even have an issue with channels doing paid reviews as long as they clearly disclose it is sponsored content. Aurora Tech is a great example of a channel which does good reviews, if generally overall positive, while definitely being sponsored in most cases. However, they disclose the sponsorship and have enough authority that they seemingly can still be honest and point out flaws and downsides. I have done reviews for free product and for payment myself. However, I make sure to disclose it and I would never do a review that required me to say or not to say anything. I either get creative freedom or I don't take the partnership. I make this clear to companies. It's absolutely true though you can't trust everyone to do the same and that all reviews should be viewed with skepticism. I don't expect anyone to trust me just because I say to. All I can do is earn their trust over time with good honest content. Everyone should still take information from numerous sources, including the comment section, and try to form a balanced opinion.
@@abovewongarthaha, not all of the nice one are bots. Mostly the one with "6b2" or something simillar in name. Also, account creation was done this month. Don't take me wrong, i love work on tiktok, but Flsun bots might also affect the visibility of your content.
@@abovewongarthaha, not all of the nice one are bots. Mostly the one with "6b2" or something simillar in name. Also, account creation was done this month. Don't take me wrong, i love your work on tiktok, but Flsun bots might also affect the visibility of your content.
Great to see you calling them out! This is why I would trust your reviews and would support your channel, This is what more people want... reviews we can trust and a video to following up on the machine to see how it really is doing, good or bad. Thank you for being honest with us !!!
Amen. I've had to stop watching numerous reviewers in the past who were once trust worthy and respectable become less so due to greed, ego, or desperation, so I've become very, very skeptical of any reviewer or reviews because with all of the bots, and corporate manipulation, inflation, and RUclips trickery, its becoming harder and harder finding honest reviewers these day. Thanks for taking the time to bring up the many elephants in the room, and the new wave of reviewer and content creator manipulation via bots.
Turns out it's not just my Bambu. I saw so many reviews on several platforms recommending Bambu's printers, and I believed them. Purchased Bambu Labs X1C and used it for 3 days. Costs are skyrocketing. When printing small items, there are more scrap materials than actual materials used? ! When I tried to print a multi-color.STL file, the nozzle blocked. I called customer service, but there was no response. I'm really disappointed. I now feel that they are relying on false propaganda and deceiving consumers to get income.
I don't know how you managed to find reviews that did not mention the AMS filament waste. That was in pretty much every review even during the late kickstarter phase. On the other hand, unless something has changed since I last looked around, you can waste _a lot_ of filament to get anywhere near the cost differential to a printer that solves multi-filament printing in a way that does not cause waste. But, if someone told me they wanted a printer for the primary purpose of multi-color printing at volume, I would have suggested they look around to see what the current alternatives are, because it is a huge drawback to the AMS. For someone like me, who generally does single color printing or just wants to swap at a layer once or twice in a print, it does the job really well. I knew this before I purchased back in 2022, from watching reviews. As for clogged nozzle. The top result when I searched for "bambu clogged nozzle" was Bambu's wiki page. Where there's an illustrated step-by-step process for how to work through the issue. There are images. There's a video. If the printer itself has an idea of what is wrong, in my experience it provides a QR code leading you to the relevant documentation for sorting it out. I honestly don't know what you feel they could have done better, within the reality of "3D printer nozzles can sometimes clog". Well, I would agree that their phone system should ensure someone picks up or inform you they're unable to at this time.
@@chrisgill5692Con? How do you figure? It's not exactly a secret that there will be waste from purging, and the amount of waste can be mitigated easily. Waste isn't a factor to me anyway. I sell multicolor prints, (own/operate a small farm of 292 printers) and then use the purged pieces as packing material. Besides, it can be argued that multicolor printing is more eco friendly than printing single color trinkets. Since the multicolor prints are generally more appealing, they're more likely to end up being shown/kept than in the waste bins.
@@OhImKiCkiN kudos to you for finding at least one use for all the waste. Personally, I think it's an environmental disaster, as most will end in landfill. You probably have some figures from your farm, but the proportion of poop for even a simple two-colour print is horrendous - that's the con. I guess eventually either this system will be banned, or making recycling mandatory somehow. I cannot believe some of the pish people print and others buy.
I am just a user, I don't have a channel, I am just doing research before buying my first printer. I have found a few channels, like yours, that provide valuable content. Content that helps me make a choice of which first printer to buy, based on the things I have learned so far because I don't know what I don't know. I don't pay attention to comments, as with any social media platform, there might be one reasonably intelligent person posting a valuable comment. However, any response always triggers the wrath of trolls and haters. Timely video's of new printers have a place, like the prusa core one. I had set my mind on the Bambu X1, then changed it to the P1S, but holding off until a first review of the core one to see if I should wait a little longer :-) Any ways, great video, great topic, but it is up to the viewer to apply common sense.
Wow, a refreshingly honest and detailed discussion about the problem. Thank you for your honesty and I hope you're rewarded in whatever way that may be, even if by just retaining your morals, as it seems you're turning away some profits. Much respect! So glad you also touched on some other fundamentals, like the rush to publish versus using the product long enough. I've always sought such integrity and deligence in my viewing but it's getting harder. And I'm also aware I have no right to EXPECT such standards, I've just been spoiled by so many early pioneers in this field. These problematic types of reviewers have as much right as anyone else to post, given the whole RUclips model of patronage - clicks count. And I really don't have any more "right" than just clicking away from the suspect ones, commenting can be viewed as my privileged ignorance of the relationship I have with the content creator, so you move on but loose a little more faith in the whole review model. Lastly, can I add one more fundamental issue with reviewers (even your good self I fear!) and it's simply not fixable except in some mindfulness in the reviewer: Virtually no reviewer will be in my "predicament" of weighing up my, possibly first, significant investment in this new widget. It'll always be hard to apply the same concerns, pressures, confusion and event anxiety to the scenario. But you've quite clearly done everything you possibly can to consider "my" position which is why this impressed me so much, again thank you and all the best of luck with your career that you should rightfully take great pride in as well as (hopefully), a commensurate long term financial reward.
I take any sponsored review with a massive grain of salt. I'll only use them to get a rough idea at best. Overwhelmingly positive comments are actually an instant turn off for me because it is almost without fail botting and I won't tolerate companies that resort to that. The only opinions I put any stock in are reviewers that buy the product themselves and myself. FLSun was already on my red flag list. At this point the continued use of botting has moved them to my shit list and I'm unlikely to consider or recommend any product from them for a very long time. Like Creality they are going to have to make clear strides to fix some serious problems and prove they have changed over a period of time before I consider them again.
100% agreed! Btw, right now it feels like i'm the only one trying to keep Qidi accountable with the plus 4 as a "reviewer" interested to see you're take now 🙂
FWIW it seems all reviewers including you had a mostly positive initial experience. IDK of any who have had major issues since their review. However, I totally agree the printer has issues and it would be good if people covered it fairly and accurately. I will say though, everyone I have spoken with says Qidi's review terms are incredibly open and fair. No requirements of what to say or not to say. Was your experience different? Genuinely asking. Just good to know if they are one of the good companies for giving review units or another FLSUN.
@802Garage True, follow-ups are as important imo if products have design flaws. I do get it that if it's a business model you don't have the time to revisit products. Qidi is indeed a no questions asked company, i love them for that but they do have the tendency to hide it instead of warning customers.
@802Garage If you ignore the loose bearing then yes,my first look is mostly positive. Qidi is one of the few no questions asked company's i worked with, same for the Q1 pro. I also understand that channels earning a living from it or have deals/contracts with other brands don't have time to revisit topics. Imo it's very important to do so as some things take time to get exposed which is why I try to get close in the community to follow up, test it and report on it. I would like to see more of this content on the plus 4, that seems to be lacking right now (talking about the big channels on my original post up top)
This is pathetic. Thank you so much for making this video. The internet is such a beautiful and powerful tool but needs to handled with a critical mind.
Spot on.. I am a newbie to 3D, so I've spent many hours learning, trying to decide which printer, and manufacturer is best suited to me. I did buy a Qidi Plus 4, after viewing a number of positive reviews.. There have been a number of issues popping up since, in units when they showed up in the hands of buyers. So why didn't the reviewers have/discuss these issues... Well the one issue with the heater relay board doesn't show up on 230v machines. (EU, China, etc) but does happen on 120v machines (US).. SO possibly those reviewers weren't in the US... The other issues are field fixable, with parts from Qidi, for the most part.. I must say that Qidi's response to me has been great. They responded quickly, and added extras for my inconvenience.. The Plus4 does provide great prints, and I feel Qidi will resolve all outstanding issues in a timely fashion..
I feel this started to get really bad with Bambulab entering the market. The first generation of their printers was certainly not bad and they had a few good ideas, however there were also massive quality issues like the banana beds and badly functioning AMSes. However there was and still is only hype, hype, hype. I use this as a gauge for how much I trust reviewers. If they blindly hyped Bambu printers without even mentioning the flaws, I don’t trust them. Bambu printers are still good, but they are not as flawless as many reviewers make them.
This is true of other spaces too, I’d also add some creators straight up fail to disclose the item in the video was provided to them, or go out of their way to hide it even. Ethics all around are important, and once a company crosses the line, they’ve lost me as a customer and I can’t recommend them.
Well explained. This needs to be a thing in more communities. I always felt computers/gamers had this happen ages ago, which is why you see the common points of clealy declaring any potential bias and promotional content explicitly at the start of the video and explain what exchange was made. I go to lookup a review on a vacuum or some other appliance, it feels like I'm watching a whole different internet.
Wow dropped the hammer - knowing what FLSUN was requiring from you to review, and all the BS they have pulled with the bots and then seeing the few tubers review that same printer and gave it glowing reviews... I think Loyal Moses labeled it "The Perfect Printer". Just reinforces my thoughts about that one.
I just started looking at purchasing my first 3D printer and happened upon your channel. I subscribed for your honest assessment of the industry and appreciate your insight 9:24 👍 👍
I want to express my gratitude for your willingness to share this valuable information; in a world that is increasingly dominated by media and social platforms, it often seems that many individuals are solely focused on leveraging every opportunity for their own benefit, striving for likes and recognition at the expense of genuine testing and expressing reality facts.
Well done. This is a deep topic and not so simple solution. For example; if a companies use misleading claims/lies, and a youtuber calls out the claim. Like flow rate at 100mm/sec. They still move alot of units. Improve the marketing or Hardware next time, then release a new one. The feedback was received one way or another. Paid review or not. And sales usually increase. So then what should a reviewer do? Well maybe don't say anything about the issue. Then "they" cant improve and deceive people again? Nope. Can be silent either.... uhgg. I suppose nothing new here.
as someone new to 3d printing i agree with a lot of what you said about reviewers it's hard to know whats honest and whats real. in many cases you will get a quick review that shows high quality stuff that doesn't also explain to the consumer that a good portion of that quality of 3d print also comes down to slicer settings something that comes with experience and a lot of trial an error. i spend a good 2 weeks watching so many videos on different 3d printers trying to pick the best one. in additions to looking up reviews once people start thinking they might like a certain printer for their purchase they really need to start looking for videos or articles about common problems with said printers to see what commonly occurs and how difficult/expensive is it to repair or maintain....
You're not wrong. Shame that the higher production value videos are usually the ones people, like myself, tend to prefer to watch, because they're more entertaining and contain less uninteresting faff than the "low production value" ones made by makers with perhaps better and longer experience with the machine(s) in practical and actual use.
Excellent video. Maybe the way to mitigate the problem of videos being only a snapshot in time is making regular update videos, even if it is 6 months or a year down the line. One could even group a bunch of different printers / brands together so it attracts more views and attention for everyday viewers.
What I think is needed, is for people that do reviews of 3D printers (and related products) is for the 3D printing community to come up with a common license agreement (like found in Open Source software) and create an alliance of reviewers. Then if a manufacturer wants to work with anyone that's part of that alliance, they have to agree to those terms. Create a good contract that works for the community and manufacturers.
You just earned a new subscriber. I don’t trust any of the day one videos, videos with click bait titles, or videos with overly fancy thumbnails. Just content creators saying what they have to keep getting free stuff. The new K2 from Creality coming out has brought quite few whiners. Creators bound by the embargo whining about people who paid for their printers releasing videos before they can. I’ve seen one even saying he was going to report them to Creality. It just shows that they care more about hopping on the hype train than having good content. I just block those creators from being recommended by the algorithm. Also, FLSun can rot.
It is interesting that the two K2 videos I have watched so far seem very odd. With comments like, "we are just opening the box, we will do a review later." I realize Creality has a lot riding on this new printer and that is understandable. Let's hope they do the right thing and not follow the tactics of FLSun.
On behalf of Mr Roboto, thank you for calling out this practice. I enjoy when channels go back to printers a few months later and say, hey I've got x thousand prints on this thing and here is where it sits!
This is definitely true. I was shocked for instance hearing that aurora tech channel took payment for reviews, but nobody realizes this because it's not all reviews. They also remove comments that talk about this or flaws of printers if they are big enough. The bots from, presumably manufacturers is awful. It kinda sucks because you can't be sure it's actually the company doing this, but it still creates a wild atmosphere for viewer. I think something that matters is that often reviewers leave the viewer with too vague a viewpoint for someone who isn't an enthusiast so it's important that the content creator themselves leaves a simplified opinion so that bot comments don't have too great an effect.
I don't trust any online reviewers unless they state they have no relationship with the manufacturer and purchased with their own money. Even then I'm cautious.
I've stopped watching Videos where the product has been received 5 minutes ago by the reviewer. What I hope becomes the norm is the 12 months later review . The how to do it , how to fix it vids , how to negotiate the software hurdles , how to install the OS and get it working type videos are time better spent on YT . Completely agree with your comments.
I saw a video recently where someone was ranking the best filament brands. And the one they picked as the best happened to be a brand that was their repeated sponsor, thereby rendering their entire video completely useless. Even if they were telling the truth and completely objective, it can't be trusted.
I too recall Maker's Muse contents on this issue. Your comments coincided with his concerns in many regards. Your comments are also aligned with my personal opinion requiring time to form that opinion. I don't care if is a sponge. You're not getting a review out of me a day or two after I received the product. FLSUN: No YGK3D: YES Keep up the good work. In the future you'll be one of the trusted voices we know we can depend on.
I am disgusted and appalled at the terms of that FLSun 'contract'. You have done a great service to this community by exposing the terms they impose on anyone who they send a printer to for 'review'. Thank you for sharing this with us. This has some relevance to me, because when I first heard of the S1 I was very impressed with what I read about it, and I thought it would be my next printer when it became available. Fortunately, I saw your review as well as others on the S1, and I am very grateful that I did not buy it.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. TFL has been off my list for awhile for similar reasons. Anyone reviewing FLSUN will probably join them on my ignore list.
I bought a sovol sv07 plus last year, based on very positive reviews. But the reality was very different . It has been a pain to make it works and even so with regular failures. My experience after that: - Dont buy a printer without an automatic bed leveling and be sure its absolutely reliable. - if its a bed slinger, don't buy a printer without x and y rails , avoid moving systems with wheels. - check if you can replace the hot end easily. - be sure to use good filaments. - dont rush on new brands or new products , let's a minimum of time for the community feedback to confirm if it's a reliable product.
WHOA. I didn't get that kind of email interaction. That is terrible. I agree, 100% honesty and transparency is imperative. I'd rather kill a relationship with a brand in favor of transparency on the issues related to the printers. I always try to put a minimum of 300 print hours on my printers. To see if there are any issues that will come up during that time.
You should probably share the details of your agreement if different so viewers understand your obligations back to the manufacturer. The agreement described here definitely sets up a 'you must agree to the understanding that we own you' relationship.
Nicely made point. Wish you'd review more products, at your own pace... As I tend to avoid any brand new products in the consumer 3D printing space, that would match my pace ;-).
If they're on RUclips I already pretty much throw them in the trash. Even if they openly state that they're sponsored and/or got the printer for free (which is essentially the same thing, especially because companies aren't sending free printers to people who highlight flaws all the time), and try to say "oh but they didn't influence my review" uh huh. My favorite are when all these "uninfluenced" people use the same exact terminology. Almost like they were told to use it and don't expect people to watch more than one video about it? There was some resin printer recently that every review I watched called "the Bambu of resin" and every one of them got butthurt when I called it out in the comments...
Cant wait for your review of Qidi Plus4, I was very interested, almost bought it first second :D but i decided to wait a bit, when waters are more calm :D
And then there is the clickbait on top od it all "... Changes the game" - "Watch this if never ever want to ... again" and on and on... By the way: Great video 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I had my heart and mind set on an Elegoo Mars 5 but that was BEFORE I started looking at reviews on RUclips. I quickly concluded that the astroturfed review content meant that I would be one of the few people actually BUYING a printer rather than receiving a freebie and shilling. So shady that i decided I didnt want to have anything to do with them.
Calling manufactures out does nothing as it just has been proved with flsun that continues to false advertise their products and I bet they are not the only one. The real and right solution here is sueing them. You as youtubers/influencers have the power and money to make this possible and have the right outcome. Of course all the other users of the products can help to this. I would gladly pay a small amount of money if I was a user to see them punished for all this thing they are doing. I really like your videos and continue the good work.
"You as youtubers/influencers have the power and money" I can assure you that you are greatly over estimating how much this dude is making with this youtube channel.
@@paulhuckaby I used plural meaning that even is someone alone doesn't have enough money/power to do it, a lot of them could. I know that he is a small channel and doesn't make a lot of money but he could cooperate with other bigger channels.
![Stromae, Pomme - “Ma Meilleure Ennemie” (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Visualizer]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1F3OGIFnW1k/mqdefault.jpg)
I don't do reviews for my channel but I do make projects with printers and resins. I have turned down multiple resin companies and printers when they ask for a positive video, and they ask to review the video before it is release to make adjustments. First of all it is a lot of work to film and edit a video already, and then having to change parts of it because they don't like it.. Yeah no thanks.
I have also had been told if I don't I won't get a collaboration in the future, this is just there way of saying you get no more free things. That is fine, not working with these companies is better in the long run. The content creator is a lot cheaper to advertise through then buying ads to sell their products, and for some reason these companies think they can tell creators what to do.
There are very good companies out there as well, I have worked with ones that accept everything you have to say and say have at it. They take on bad points and attempt to fix them and work with you.
But, I would like to let other creators know that you have more power then you think when dealing with these companies. Please let them kindly know that those terms are not right and you won't be able to agree, if enough creators keep doing it then they will have to cave if they ever want their products to be shown.
As a reviewer I agree 100% with you. When you say good things the brand haters will blow you up, if you say bad things the brand lovers you blow you up either. But most important is to be clear with who send you the products to review, I'm not selling my opinion, I'll make a content based on my experience and tell everything that happens when using the product, period.
One very important thing some brand doesn't understand is: Telling the audience the negative points is not negative for the product, will always have people that don't care about the negative point you said, and they will buy it fully aware of what they will receive, and those people will be happy, because they know what to expect, simple as that.
Keep doing your great job, I love your videos!!!
I would go farther with what you said about negatives on any kind of tech. I won't believe a review that has nothing negative to say.
Tech has its flaws and room to grow, always. I'm ok with that, I just wanna know what the tradeoffs are before I buy in. I'm not comfortable with a purchase without knowing both the good and the bad.
If the bad is hidden, it just feels like not enough information at best, and deception at worst.
This is spot on. So many times I am seeing "reviewers" go from being honest and then being a simp for a certain brand because they are suddenly sponsored by the company. Example: 3 Professor, He went from saying Bambu printers were not equal to all the hype they get. then they sponsor him and SNAP! Now he says there is nothing else to use.....Its a bunch of nonsense. It should be illegal for someone to "review" printers or goods from companies that are paying them or giving them free stuff
Holy crap dude. Those terms are BAD BAD.
Your reviews often show the same vibe
@@Chrissi33004 Not currently. He really doesn't review printers as much as he used to (unless it's from a brand he personally likes). Most of his current videos are highlighting new stuff whether it's printer parts or projects related to 3D printing which honestly is a smart move. Most mainstream printers now are samey with overall improved with reliability.
@@Chrissi33004ha tell that to the Giga
@3dprintingnerd Have you had the same experiences??
@@boazjoe1 I've been handed "review terms" from manufacturers that I very much would never sign. It's surprising how many of them want you to review their product, but also want editorial control.
You just can’t know if these FLSUN comments are really from bots they paid or if it’s from a competitor.
But the game is pretty easy. Reviewers need free samples from companies. If they say the product is bad, they won’t get another one. For the company, a good review video is pure gold: They don’t have to make a video by themselves, they don’t need to pay for pushing video ads. A good review is like 10x cheaper than doing it yourself and the more views, the better.
And money… it’s pretty common to pay for things. This is older than the internet, each magazine does ads and reviews from the products of the same company. As a company, it’s also OK to review the video before because there could be real problems or false information in it. That’s bad for the company, but also bad for the reviewer because if all reviews are good, he will be an idiot if his review is bad. That’s a common strategy to align reviews, like „everyone else tested it and they were happy, maybe your test is bad“…
Some reviewers just get paid for other things, like making photos or some other things. Some reviewers just get invited for a holiday. Others sell ads like Instagram stories, 10000 dollar for 4 stories as an example from bigger tech influencers is pretty normal.
And there are bigger magazines/channels/influencers which tell you how much you have to invest in ads for getting a good place in a test.
There are also some people doing a great job and reviews. But not that much.
Problem is being first to produce content, not much time to test, not testing too bad because you won’t get any products from this company.
Good and real tests: Buy the product for testing if you want to test products. Companies normally will send hand picked products to testers. If you buy the product, you can tell what you want and if it’s shitty enough maybe even return it. You will learn how companies deal with normal people in support. But you won’t know anything before a product launched and your video will be too late… you have to rely on other income to do so. I can‘t name more than 4 channels doing things great and don’t rely on a company’s goodwill. 2 of them 3d printing, 1 photo and 1 hardware channel.
How I know? Worked on both sides 😂
Is one of those channels Project Farm? :D
Nice video, but how do I know you're not an Ai bot employed by FLsuns competitors?
Tan-tan-taaaan! 🤔
Bee boop. You got me!
Finally, someone's talking about this! Last year, I was looking for a beginner-friendly 3D printer on RUclips and got misled by a bunch of videos. No one warned me about the issues with the bambu P1 and how lousy their after-sales service is. I respect every content creator's work, but I guess I need to step up my own judgment game
Had the same problem, I bought an A1 mini and after 3 months, it's quality degraded significantly.
What issues? I've got a few hundred hours on my p1s and thre only prints that have failed have been my own fault. I've only today just replaced the nozzle 1st wiper (which was supplied).
@@BojanSusic-qi4qn Have you dried the filament?
@@BojanSusic-qi4qn vjv ti je filament u kurcu.. imam nekoliko a1, a1 mini i p1s printera i niti s jednim nemam problema. Preko 1000 sati printanja, i sve radi.
@@BojanSusic-qi4qn Im not the biggest fan of bambu, but I own an A1 mini with 800+ print hours, it prints as well as it did day 1. Theres something else going on with your machine. My vorons, and prusa machines also print like day 1. Maintaining a machine is important.
Maker's Muse did a similar video about 18 months back on the same type of phenomena he was dealing with. Quite a few 3D printer manufacturers were using these shady tactics at the time.
Hmm... tired to find it, but couldn't. Can you please mention the name of the video? Would be interested to watch it. Thanks in advance.
@@Equilion It was longer ago than I thought. Search "The 7 Deadly Sins of 3D Printer Companies" I must have watched long after it came out.
@@Equilion I tried to reply earlier, but I think YT deleted the post for some reason. I found the video... it's from 3 years ago (2021) and it's about the 7 deadly sins of 3d printer companies. I hope this doesn't get deleted as well.
@@yeroca Thank you. I found it. Have a good one
In his "Creality Ender-3... it's time to move on." video he was pretty damning about the Creality bot farms that post comments all over the net.
What we need is a more grassroots platform for 3D printing hardware reviews, instead of relying on paid influencers. Instead of RUclips, there should be one go-to website for impartial 3D printer data. A place for people to post problems and find solutions, all the while building up profiles for certain printers. You’d be able to see how many hours of printing it takes before most people start to run into each issue. You’d be able to find more optimised slicer profiles or start/end g-codes. Even batch issues between serial number ranges. You’d also be able to see which manufacturers pay for bot reviews, and easily see when a reviewer has been sponsored.
Problem who is going to pay for this website, they do not come cheap. Also who is going to maintain it. Who is going to monitor what is entered? And a few other things I haven;t thought of? One big thing who is going to pay the person or persons dling ths work?
Sure so who is paying and how do we make sur eit does not influence results?
About the FLSUN, I also got the review request for their new delta printers. Since they already have several negative reviews, they are careful, and they give me some directions for the video, which I couldn't accept. Very similar to those which you explained. Good that you informed the publicity too. Thx. 5:41 yes, I can recognize those paid positive reviews, but new users don't. And I am not sure, if you know the case when a RUclipsr replied to mass email (to other youtubers too) that he will do a very positive review for $500. Other: I will write you an email about cooperation request, please reply even if you are not interested.
love your stuff Igor! looking forward this collab!
Come on Igor. Didn't you realize the $500 guy was joking? He was trolling them _because_ it was an open email. 😁
I have to assume the T1 is a steaming pile of shit, if they won't allow uncensored reviews.
Glad to know you rejected. :)
FLSUN is garbage ive owned a few and all have sucked (yep it was the DELTA's)
Shame about Qidi 4. Was looking forward to buying but thanks for the warning! I guess I’ll just have to wait for a few more months for them to resolve those issues before getting it.
Exactly, competitors have had plenty of time to "catch up" with Bambu reliability, so I wanted to believe they have, and I'm sure others feel the same. If a reviewer isn't honest, that can push people over the edge and invest poorly in another troublesome machine. Qidi fixing the 4 hopefully goes well, because even Bambu will become better to try and stay ahead. It's good for everyone.
I have a Plus 4 and before that an X Plus 3. The XP3 printed beautifully but was plagued with small problems. I hesitated on buying the Plus 4 because of my previous experience. I haven’t had the chamber heater issue with mine and I’ve printed a full roll of ASA GF, but I also haven’t opened the back panel to check the SSR to see if it’s been overheating. My experience with Qidi support has been that they are very responsive-which some people mistakenly call good-but they seem to go out of their way to avoid taking a printer back when there are obvious problems. They seem to prefer firing the parts cannon at the problem instead. There are several known hardware issues with the Plus 4-nozzle clogs, the SSR issue, and not being able to use the full build height because of a faulty design in the chamber heater itself. I’m seriously considering demanding a return but it does do an amazing job printing and handles ASA as easily as it does PLA. If I were you, I’d wait..it seems like they’re using this first batch of units as beta test machines.
@ I will definitely do that. Thanks for the input!
Hey! Great video and thanks for the shout-out. This will probably get buried, but it's nice to see other content creators shining a light on the shady marketing practices in the industry. Great job.
Hey man, I totally feel you. Bambu took 478 quid from me and sent me a 15 quid spool of plastic. Their customer service takes ages to respond like every 3 days and they haven't taken any action to resolve my issue... Now they’ve kept my money and haven’t sent the printer I ordered. Seriously, the customer service is terrible, and you’ll just end up out of pocket. I’m posting this to warn others so they don’t get scammed like I did. Honestly, I don’t get how companies like this are allowed to keep operating.
That's a bit different than a paid review. Also very untypical for Bambu-- As you're in the UK, there are some pretty solid consumer protection laws, so I can't see how you're out of pocket. If you haven't received your printer, open a dispute with whatever payment method you used. As long as you bought from BambuLab or a reputable dealer, you should be able to get your printer or your money back. Last year in the EU, it was common to ship the filament separate from the printer (Two different fulfillment centers).
I've found their customer service to be slow, but effective.
They are in China, you have zero rights - maybe best case is a chargeback request on credit card - but no company wants negative reputation or poor reviews. Just keep pestering them or do a chargeback.
@@chrisgill5692 "BambuLab LIMITED" is based in China, true. But they also registered as "BambuLab GmbH" in Germany and have a warehouse there, EU law applies
@@chrisgill5692 No, Bambu Lab has an office in the EU (In Germany, if I recall) so they are actually bound by EU consumer protection laws. Since the parent said "quid" I assume they're in the UK, so not EU, but as I understand it, the UK adopted most of the EU laws as part of Brexit.
@@johngelnaw1243 ha, you can try. Look at your receipt it will have a Chinese address even if shipped from a European office or warehouse. Always buy on a credit card.
😭But I like my T1* 🤣 Great discussion, really. But in general, making money on RUclips - without selling out - is a huge challenge. * About my T1: I do like the unit FLSUN sent me, but it was NOT perfect. I gave them feedback... and it looks like the T1 Pro fixes most of it. Anyway, it is not the first company, nor the last one, trying to control what is said about their products 🤷♂
I can confirm that @GeekDetour likes his T1. Pity that I didn't recorded our online converation, he could use it in his video 🙂
@GeekDetour Sorry for being half snide, but another issue I have with some of you reviewers is that mechanism where if you can't do a positive review, you don't do any at all. Which tilts the overall picture since the shills don't hold back.
I don't wanna speculate as to whether that's why you didn't post a review on it and "only" gave feedback to FLSun?
(Maybe you did post a review in a short or somewhere else, just couldn't find anything on the main channel).
Again, you may not be guilty of this, but some certainly are.
@@AntiVaganza this 100%...
I couldn't agree with you more
That's an excellent business model...
Build a printer that has issues... fix issues with a new printer while creating new ones... Whose issues will be fixed with a new printer while creating new ones... repeat
Sounds like some brands out there.
YGK3D is best printer brand. I will always buy it because that is what my empire is build on. YGK3D will change teh world!!
The bot army approves this message
@@ygk3d me too. ;)
Who, who, who let the bot's out..... 😃
@@toma.3dThe Crooks ( in the marketing department ) let the bots out! 😊
history changing vibes only here
THANK YOU for peeling back the curtain. Making an informed choice is so difficult even with the new tools we have
This is a good summation of a big problem....only one thing missing imo. I have seen negatively biased reviews too often. These are reviews where the RUclipsr doing the review favors anothe or other products more than the one they are reviewing. The only reason I frequently suspect are reviewing said product is because they are being compensated...if only by the views and subs on RUclips. I'm not against reporting of negative findings but when positive findings that are legit aren't mentioned, if petty irrelevant negativities are given too much play, or legit negatives not enough play then I lose all respect for the reviewer. One example I can give is when Bambu came out with their new printer AMS systems, the reviews were all glowing. These printers are not bad and their speed and multi-colour capability made them the darling of the hobby driving millions of sales. However, on HUGE issue with them imo is their waste. In many ( most?) multicolour jobs on the Bambu's, The "poop" and purge towers can be 2 - 4 times the weight of the actual model being printed. This is a fact that I have very rarely seen mentioned in passing in a review let alone flagged as a negative. So, biases are rife with online reviews...about any product and service :P
I feel like all manufacturers do this. I was totally lied to! The reviewing video told me the Bambu X1 was the best 3D printer, but honestly, it feels like a piece of junk. I bought the X1 Carbon in August 2024, right on the first day ,and right away, the machine started having issues. First, I couldn’t format or read any SD card. A week later, while I was trying to install the latest firmware update, it just stopped detecting the AMS. Bambulab’s support team had me running around checking cables and protocols, but nothing changed. So, I ended up buying a new AMS (big cost, just to see what was wrong), and it worked. The new AMS was recognized, but as soon as I installed the firmware, it crashed again and wouldn’t detect either AMS. Turns out one of the boards was the issue. Bambulab support sent me new boards and had me swap them out. They even made me change the AP board for the SD card recognition. All this at no cost, which is cool, but for the price I paid, I feel like I should’ve been able to take it to a repair shop and get it fixed under warranty.
August 2024? For a X1 Carbon?
Typo? The x1c was released in 2022. I'd generally avoid buying brand new products but the opinion on the x1c is still largely really positive in my perception. QA isn't perfect nor is their customer support. But the issue with repair shops is that they would need to have parts to do anything and if you want that level of service you'd be looking at commercial printers that are 10 times the price because those companies need to employ on-site technicians or run shops all over the globe.
Mine works great...maybe you should not be such a princess!
mines a weapon. maybe dont buy the first batch of anything new. pretty basic rule that has served me well.
That experience does not in any way seem related to me. Your story is about you having bad luck with a product, not about Bambu demanding reviewers speak positively about their products in order to get a review unit.
If the X1C had been an objectively horrible product, I would agree that reviewers claiming it's "the best 3D printer" would be pretty good evidence of intentional misleading, quite possibly at the behest of Bambu. But that was not the case. Not only was the printer good, there were some pretty middling reviews from people who had poor experiences with the pre-release units. While, on average, it was very favorably reviewed, it was not a case of "forced portrayal of absolute perfection". And now we have two years worth of data showing they're great printers.
I bought an X1C from the first shipment (not the kickstarter, but as soon as it was available from retailers), and I would absolutely have said "best 3D printer I have ever used" at the time myself. Now, about two years later, it's still my primary printer and apart from swapping out a funnel on the AMS (which I wore out by using abrasive filament in it without realizing it), I haven't needed to do anything whatsoever to keep it running. I'd still recommend it warmly to anyone with the budget for it, unless their needs are very different from mine.
Another issue that you didn't mention is that we get special treatment in terms of (likely) cherry picked units and tech support, and only have a sample size of 1. It makes it really hard to judge QC, reliability, and customer support, which are huge factors in whether someone has a good experience with their printer.
But what is the solution?
Complete teardown, entensive long term test reports, group discussion/podacst with real machine design engineers, unity among youtube reviewers regarding terms set by manufacturers.
Tell them you will place an order as a regular consumer (under a different name), and they should reimburse you, instead of providing the unit themselves. Of course this doesn't work for pre-release reviews.
I think this is something that really needs more attention. I pre-ordered a Creality K1 based off positive reviews on youtube. My first k1 was a nightmare, both in terms of how poorly it worked and how detached Creality customer service is. The replacement k1 is a reliable machine but it has a lot of artifacts in the print.
I guess the real problem is that it only takes one reviewer who needs the cash more than to maintain their integrity to cause problems.
Is the 3D printing community large enough to have some kind of association, so that any member of that association, big or small, gets bound by the same set of rules? That way if a 3D printer manufacturer wants to have their unit reviewed, they have to accept the conditions of the association, regardless the size of the content creator.
I suppose the theory, that an association would mean large creators would give strength to the smaller creators because they could highlight any time a company tried to unreasonably strong arm an association member.
The only solution would be to buy the devices yourself, but nobody could afford that. The manufacturers know how to manipulate reviewers without the latter realising it. The only thing you can do is to be aware of it.
What many influencers don't seem to understand. They are not ‘friends’ or ‘partners’ of the manufacturers. They are a marketing tool and nothing more. If even the slightest bit of criticism goes in the direction of the manufacturer and they cut ties, you know you've just been exploited.
@@andreas.grundler Ideally, the manufacturer could put money to buy a unit in escrow. Then someone with a different name and address orders the machine, and is repaid using the escrowed money that the manufacturer can no longer track. That machine is then delivered to the tester for review. This way the manufacturer doesn't have any way of knowing which machine is going to the tester. However, there are probably some manufacturers who wouldn't agree to these terms.
Great video, and glad to hear you have the integrity to speak up about it! Anything that's labelled a "review" but dropped on day one of a product launch, to me, is simply a "first impression". A proper review needs time for adequate testing and also to see how invested the company is in fixing hardware and software issues. Perhaps we should push the community to stop labelling things as "reviews" unless they've actually used the printers routinely for ~6 months...but of course then creators won't get paid which is also a problem 😅
Appreciate the honesty my friend. Clough42, you and a few others are the only ones I trust for a review. Most of the Tubers that do reviews are either being sponsored by the company or at the very least are trying to be. Everyone wants to quit their day job and do this full time even if it requires bending the truth. I have a Qidi XMax3 and had quite a few problems with it, including having to completely rebuild the coreXY sub assembly because the screws were over tightened from the factory and cracked all the injection molded corner brackets. There were quite a few design issues with the printer and it was half baked when they started shipping. Now if I had been a reviewer that only tested for a week, I probably would have gave a glowing review. I will say that Qidi usually responded in a day or 2 and always shipped all parts I needed to make the repair. My issue is that most of the issues I had should never have reached a customer in the first place. It really is a crap shoot for every printer that is released, but there is an alarming trend of the printers being sent out to customers before they are ready and the early adopters being used as beta testers for the most part.
If a review starts with "this is the best printer" or "the only printer you'll ever need" my spider senses start to activate. I've not got a heap of experience with different brands, but one thing i can proclaim, and that is, they all break just when you need them. Made from cheap crap with working life baked in.
Yeah, or "this is the Prusa/Bambu killer" episode part 723,5.
And they'll do this again, again and again. Some pretty big names are guilty of that attitude. Clough42 is a gem and he aslo showed how some brands will play dirty based on his review (Flsun), others did even redesign a complete machine and halted a launch (Qidi). So yes, there's a couple of really good guys out there, but it's dying breed.
I was just about to order a Qidi Plus4, and now I ain't gonna.
As a Qidi plus 4 owner I will advice you not to buy. Never get tempted buying a product thats just been released.
@@olenielsen5852can confirm, got a full refund on mine due to non-existent quality control.
I'm not not buying one, but I'm definitely not buying one _yet_.
Mine has been perfect, but there are issues for many. I definitely recommend waiting a bit to see if everything is resolved properly. It has a great base, but needs to be ironed out.
@@802Garage I just ordered with a Bambu Labs P1S, figured it was a safe bet.
Thanks.
Well said, and thanks. I've been caught so many times by overly enthusiastic reviews until I found the reviewers I could trust.
As a very small (and relatively young) channel, I agree 100% with your statements. A lot of reviewers are doing it for the views, and that is because they earn a living off of what they are doing, so the more views, the higher the remuneration from RUclips. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately LOL), I am not a full time RUclipsr, and my channel shows that, as I have very slow growth... and I'm okay with that. I don't depend on RUclips income. I have had companies send me products for review, and I am brutally honest. I don't sugar coat anything just for the sake of making good with the companies. I will not say something is good if I don't think it's good, and vice versa. I do 99% live streams, so you can see me either have success with something or struggle. I've been approached by companies to purchase their product with promises of a refund after a POSITIVE review... but I'm not that gullible. I'll keep on doing what I'm doing and have a clear conscience doing it! :)
Nailed it.
Thing is, it's MUCH bigger than 3D Printers. It's an endemic problem across ALL of RUclips reviews, and YT taking away the tools creators used to have to post-publish annotate a video and hiding dislikes only exacerbates the problem.
Thanks for exposing Flsun for this not acceptable "review" tactics
Thanks for pointing this out. This leaves a bad taste when watching FLSUm review on other channels. And now I know the reason why this printer is not reviewed by my most favourite channels. And the channels that I watch and make a review of this printer: I don't trust them anymore
thanks for the video dude! I will be waiting for your review of the qidi plus 4
I recently got an email from, let's say, a well known earbud brand who works with RUclipsrs, asking me how much I would charge for a review. Its pretty wild that companies think they should be paying for "review" videos, having control over the content in those videos, and requiring positive feedback.
Thanks for shining a Ray of light upon one the many shady review tactics
I'm not opposed to reviewers taking paid reviews. This is after all a job for many of them. I have done reviews where I received free product and payment. However, I would never do a review where I was required to say or not say anything. I either get full creative control or I don't take the deal. It's impossible to know who has integrity or who doesn't at simple face value, but once you get a feel for a channel you can tell. TNL for example I wouldn't expect a shred of credibility. NeedItMakeIt I believe I can trust. You should always aggregate your information for the best overall view.
The more I see RUclipsrs pushing any one product, the less I trust that product until it just erodes my trust or attention span entirely and then I just start ignoring that company/brand altogether heh
@@802Garage The problem is that there's complex psychology at play that they're taking advantage of just by giving you a free product, let alone actually paying you for a positive review - don't be a shill 🙂
@@3nertia I understand what is honestly very basic psychology. I hate to tell you this, but all advertising you have ever seen is paid for. A lot of RUclipsrs and social media creators would not be making content at all if they couldn't make enough money from it. I'd prefer to never take a single thing for free or be paid by any company, but wouldn't it also be nice if everything was free and I didn't have bills? I won't lie in any of my content, and I'll always disclose a relationship. The audience should always be aware to take that psychology into account as with literally all advertising. Keep in mind a review where someone bought the item themselves can be heavily biased for many reasons too.
Glad to hear someone is calling them out on their BS. And shame on those channels that aren't honest with their review in order to receive free products or money.
I came across your channel when researching the FLSUN Delta printers. And I noticed the video you posted on the bots as well! On my small channel, I do a few 3D printer reviews and I find it really interesting what companies insist on reviewing my content before publishing - which I just don't do. Granted, I rarely get the high end brands but even they are really bad at trying to control or shape the review. I see a lot of "Yes sir" types on RUclips that just echo what the manufacturer says - they are all about those affiliate commissions! I have a lot of respect for those that do like I do - say it like it is, praise where deserved and sharing what I feel are serious cons to the product.
Your honesty deserves respect: good work!
Such an important video! I instantly subscribed! We need people like you providing transparency from the reviewer's point of view. Those FLSUN terms are brutal!
Just subbed because I saw you in a post from the next layer, Thank you for taking your time to show us the truth behind these company’s even if it means they may not enjoy working with you. We need youtubers like you!!!
Nobody should support that guy. He wants an entire nation of people labeled as less than human and eliminated. His history on social media is also shady at best.
Great video. Coming into it, maybe due to the definitive title, I thought negatively about the video but I got to say I left it on the positive side. Very honest and true ☺️
Wow, a real video by a real person and real comments. I think everyone somehow was suspecting such things going on, but it practically means to me, that established channels who do day 1 hype reviews, and do not do critical re-review some weeks later are unbased and on an other agenda than honestly informing a potential buyer. so, this video practically empowers us, and i am highly thankful. commented, liked and subscribed. something i rarely do on youtube :)
I wish creators hadn't glossed over the fact that the K1 series by Creality had so many flaws. Especially the VFA issues.
@@ThisisDD omg, not just me. I have trouble with bed leveling, vfa, heat creep, extruder skip teeth, filament slip.
My first viewing of your channel. Quite the eye opener. This is why I love the reviews that begin by stating that they were given the printer for review, but their opinions are their own.
Liked and subscribed! 👍
Thanks for sharing Taylor. I had a similar situation with a small company in China that makes smaller printers and cheap filament. They asked me to write articles on their website after finding my content on my website.
The rate was acceptable but when I looked at their suggested writing as well as articles they previously published it was all AI nonsense.
I went round and round and round with them to the point where I decided to kill off my personal website and block the company from my emails because it was gross practice.
Good topic and well covered. I don't have an issue with channels doing reviews for free product. I don't even have an issue with channels doing paid reviews as long as they clearly disclose it is sponsored content. Aurora Tech is a great example of a channel which does good reviews, if generally overall positive, while definitely being sponsored in most cases. However, they disclose the sponsorship and have enough authority that they seemingly can still be honest and point out flaws and downsides.
I have done reviews for free product and for payment myself. However, I make sure to disclose it and I would never do a review that required me to say or not to say anything. I either get creative freedom or I don't take the partnership. I make this clear to companies. It's absolutely true though you can't trust everyone to do the same and that all reviews should be viewed with skepticism. I don't expect anyone to trust me just because I say to. All I can do is earn their trust over time with good honest content.
Everyone should still take information from numerous sources, including the comment section, and try to form a balanced opinion.
Damn those fake comments would be deleted so fast on my channel. FLSUN has been great to me and let me have full freedom.
Bro, Don't know if you're ironic, but I've found at least 5 bots on your comment section on the T1 review video.
@@VivoCraft3D oh fuck. I went back and read them. Are the nice comments the bots? I just thought they were nerdy people like me.
@@abovewongarthaha, not all of the nice one are bots. Mostly the one with "6b2" or something simillar in name. Also, account creation was done this month. Don't take me wrong, i love work on tiktok, but Flsun bots might also affect the visibility of your content.
@@abovewongarthaha, not all of the nice one are bots. Mostly the one with "6b2" or something simillar in name. Also, account creation was done this month. Don't take me wrong, i love your work on tiktok, but Flsun bots might also affect the visibility of your content.
Great to see you calling them out! This is why I would trust your reviews and would support your channel, This is what more people want... reviews we can trust and a video to following up on the machine to see how it really is doing, good or bad. Thank you for being honest with us !!!
Amen. I've had to stop watching numerous reviewers in the past who were once trust worthy and respectable become less so due to greed, ego, or desperation, so I've become very, very skeptical of any reviewer or reviews because with all of the bots, and corporate manipulation, inflation, and RUclips trickery, its becoming harder and harder finding honest reviewers these day. Thanks for taking the time to bring up the many elephants in the room, and the new wave of reviewer and content creator manipulation via bots.
Turns out it's not just my Bambu. I saw so many reviews on several platforms recommending Bambu's printers, and I believed them. Purchased Bambu Labs X1C and used it for 3 days. Costs are skyrocketing. When printing small items, there are more scrap materials than actual materials used? ! When I tried to print a multi-color.STL file, the nozzle blocked. I called customer service, but there was no response. I'm really disappointed. I now feel that they are relying on false propaganda and deceiving consumers to get income.
😂 MMS is the biggest con going - and not great environmentally - why do you think they also sell filament?
I don't know how you managed to find reviews that did not mention the AMS filament waste. That was in pretty much every review even during the late kickstarter phase. On the other hand, unless something has changed since I last looked around, you can waste _a lot_ of filament to get anywhere near the cost differential to a printer that solves multi-filament printing in a way that does not cause waste. But, if someone told me they wanted a printer for the primary purpose of multi-color printing at volume, I would have suggested they look around to see what the current alternatives are, because it is a huge drawback to the AMS. For someone like me, who generally does single color printing or just wants to swap at a layer once or twice in a print, it does the job really well. I knew this before I purchased back in 2022, from watching reviews.
As for clogged nozzle. The top result when I searched for "bambu clogged nozzle" was Bambu's wiki page. Where there's an illustrated step-by-step process for how to work through the issue. There are images. There's a video. If the printer itself has an idea of what is wrong, in my experience it provides a QR code leading you to the relevant documentation for sorting it out. I honestly don't know what you feel they could have done better, within the reality of "3D printer nozzles can sometimes clog". Well, I would agree that their phone system should ensure someone picks up or inform you they're unable to at this time.
@@mascot4950 The _first_ reviews were very much now suspiciously devoid of mentions of filament waste.
@@chrisgill5692Con? How do you figure? It's not exactly a secret that there will be waste from purging, and the amount of waste can be mitigated easily. Waste isn't a factor to me anyway. I sell multicolor prints, (own/operate a small farm of 292 printers) and then use the purged pieces as packing material. Besides, it can be argued that multicolor printing is more eco friendly than printing single color trinkets. Since the multicolor prints are generally more appealing, they're more likely to end up being shown/kept than in the waste bins.
@@OhImKiCkiN kudos to you for finding at least one use for all the waste. Personally, I think it's an environmental disaster, as most will end in landfill. You probably have some figures from your farm, but the proportion of poop for even a simple two-colour print is horrendous - that's the con. I guess eventually either this system will be banned, or making recycling mandatory somehow. I cannot believe some of the pish people print and others buy.
Honest revies are becoming something rare, respect for being truthful 😊
I am just a user, I don't have a channel, I am just doing research before buying my first printer. I have found a few channels, like yours, that provide valuable content. Content that helps me make a choice of which first printer to buy, based on the things I have learned so far because I don't know what I don't know. I don't pay attention to comments, as with any social media platform, there might be one reasonably intelligent person posting a valuable comment. However, any response always triggers the wrath of trolls and haters.
Timely video's of new printers have a place, like the prusa core one. I had set my mind on the Bambu X1, then changed it to the P1S, but holding off until a first review of the core one to see if I should wait a little longer :-)
Any ways, great video, great topic, but it is up to the viewer to apply common sense.
Hi. As a beginner , i wanted to start with my 1st 3d printer . I came across your video. I will be more suspicious from now on. Thanks !
Wow, a refreshingly honest and detailed discussion about the problem.
Thank you for your honesty and I hope you're rewarded in whatever way that may be, even if by just retaining your morals, as it seems you're turning away some profits. Much respect!
So glad you also touched on some other fundamentals, like the rush to publish versus using the product long enough.
I've always sought such integrity and deligence in my viewing but it's getting harder. And I'm also aware I have no right to EXPECT such standards, I've just been spoiled by so many early pioneers in this field. These problematic types of reviewers have as much right as anyone else to post, given the whole RUclips model of patronage - clicks count. And I really don't have any more "right" than just clicking away from the suspect ones, commenting can be viewed as my privileged ignorance of the relationship I have with the content creator, so you move on but loose a little more faith in the whole review model.
Lastly, can I add one more fundamental issue with reviewers (even your good self I fear!) and it's simply not fixable except in some mindfulness in the reviewer:
Virtually no reviewer will be in my "predicament" of weighing up my, possibly first, significant investment in this new widget. It'll always be hard to apply the same concerns, pressures, confusion and event anxiety to the scenario.
But you've quite clearly done everything you possibly can to consider "my" position which is why this impressed me so much, again thank you and all the best of luck with your career that you should rightfully take great pride in as well as (hopefully), a commensurate long term financial reward.
@@gregnockolds3855 thank you very much. This is a very insightful comment - well said and sums up the situation very well.
I take any sponsored review with a massive grain of salt. I'll only use them to get a rough idea at best. Overwhelmingly positive comments are actually an instant turn off for me because it is almost without fail botting and I won't tolerate companies that resort to that. The only opinions I put any stock in are reviewers that buy the product themselves and myself.
FLSun was already on my red flag list. At this point the continued use of botting has moved them to my shit list and I'm unlikely to consider or recommend any product from them for a very long time. Like Creality they are going to have to make clear strides to fix some serious problems and prove they have changed over a period of time before I consider them again.
Got a brand new side winder x3 pro...it never worked and artillery also refused to replace or allow a return. And now I have a massive paper weight.
100% agreed! Btw, right now it feels like i'm the only one trying to keep Qidi accountable with the plus 4 as a "reviewer" interested to see you're take now 🙂
FWIW it seems all reviewers including you had a mostly positive initial experience. IDK of any who have had major issues since their review. However, I totally agree the printer has issues and it would be good if people covered it fairly and accurately. I will say though, everyone I have spoken with says Qidi's review terms are incredibly open and fair. No requirements of what to say or not to say. Was your experience different? Genuinely asking. Just good to know if they are one of the good companies for giving review units or another FLSUN.
More like you post on every thread you find to promote your own channel. Your getting old quick dude.
@802Garage True, follow-ups are as important imo if products have design flaws. I do get it that if it's a business model you don't have the time to revisit products.
Qidi is indeed a no questions asked company, i love them for that but they do have the tendency to hide it instead of warning customers.
@802Garage If you ignore the loose bearing then yes,my first look is mostly positive.
Qidi is one of the few no questions asked company's i worked with, same for the Q1 pro. I also understand that channels earning a living from it or have deals/contracts with other brands don't have time to revisit topics.
Imo it's very important to do so as some things take time to get exposed which is why I try to get close in the community to follow up, test it and report on it.
I would like to see more of this content on the plus 4, that seems to be lacking right now (talking about the big channels on my original post up top)
@TC-dk6do Sure, if i take interest or share my findings i'm trying to promote myself?
You know you can just ignore me right.
Thank you for making this video! It is easy to get lost in positive reviews that don’t take the time to find issues.
This is pathetic. Thank you so much for making this video. The internet is such a beautiful and powerful tool but needs to handled with a critical mind.
I know first hand that there is a certain lab that hires promotion companies to make comments and reviews.
who cares. there printers are awesome.
@ Then way are you watching is video? Just go print.
Oooh! We're on pins-and-needles! Who could it possibly be? What is this "mysterious" lab you speak of? Sigh.
@@paulsonntag4076lmao you Bambu fck bois are wild
Spot on.. I am a newbie to 3D, so I've spent many hours learning, trying to decide which printer, and manufacturer is best suited to me. I did buy a Qidi Plus 4, after viewing a number of positive reviews.. There have been a number of issues popping up since, in units when they showed up in the hands of buyers. So why didn't the reviewers have/discuss these issues... Well the one issue with the heater relay board doesn't show up on 230v machines. (EU, China, etc) but does happen on 120v machines (US).. SO possibly those reviewers weren't in the US... The other issues are field fixable, with parts from Qidi, for the most part.. I must say that Qidi's response to me has been great. They responded quickly, and added extras for my inconvenience.. The Plus4 does provide great prints, and I feel Qidi will resolve all outstanding issues in a timely fashion..
I feel this started to get really bad with Bambulab entering the market. The first generation of their printers was certainly not bad and they had a few good ideas, however there were also massive quality issues like the banana beds and badly functioning AMSes. However there was and still is only hype, hype, hype.
I use this as a gauge for how much I trust reviewers. If they blindly hyped Bambu printers without even mentioning the flaws, I don’t trust them. Bambu printers are still good, but they are not as flawless as many reviewers make them.
This is true of other spaces too, I’d also add some creators straight up fail to disclose the item in the video was provided to them, or go out of their way to hide it even. Ethics all around are important, and once a company crosses the line, they’ve lost me as a customer and I can’t recommend them.
Well explained. This needs to be a thing in more communities. I always felt computers/gamers had this happen ages ago, which is why you see the common points of clealy declaring any potential bias and promotional content explicitly at the start of the video and explain what exchange was made. I go to lookup a review on a vacuum or some other appliance, it feels like I'm watching a whole different internet.
Wow dropped the hammer - knowing what FLSUN was requiring from you to review, and all the BS they have pulled with the bots and then seeing the few tubers review that same printer and gave it glowing reviews... I think Loyal Moses labeled it "The Perfect Printer". Just reinforces my thoughts about that one.
I just started looking at purchasing my first 3D printer and happened upon your channel. I subscribed for your honest assessment of the industry and appreciate your insight 9:24 👍 👍
I want to express my gratitude for your willingness to share this valuable information; in a world that is increasingly dominated by media and social platforms, it often seems that many individuals are solely focused on leveraging every opportunity for their own benefit, striving for likes and recognition at the expense of genuine testing and expressing reality facts.
Well done. This is a deep topic and not so simple solution. For example; if a companies use misleading claims/lies, and a youtuber calls out the claim. Like flow rate at 100mm/sec. They still move alot of units. Improve the marketing or Hardware next time, then release a new one. The feedback was received one way or another. Paid review or not. And sales usually increase. So then what should a reviewer do? Well maybe don't say anything about the issue. Then "they" cant improve and deceive people again? Nope. Can be silent either.... uhgg. I suppose nothing new here.
as someone new to 3d printing i agree with a lot of what you said about reviewers it's hard to know whats honest and whats real. in many cases you will get a quick review that shows high quality stuff that doesn't also explain to the consumer that a good portion of that quality of 3d print also comes down to slicer settings something that comes with experience and a lot of trial an error. i spend a good 2 weeks watching so many videos on different 3d printers trying to pick the best one. in additions to looking up reviews once people start thinking they might like a certain printer for their purchase they really need to start looking for videos or articles about common problems with said printers to see what commonly occurs and how difficult/expensive is it to repair or maintain....
Great video. Thank you for making it. ❤
i knew the loyal moses guy was a shill from watching his content but this confirms it
I mean, to be fair to him. He's a scam too... 😏
Thank You! Just a plain and simple thank you
Hey Taylor your honest opinion is what we need that's all
You're not wrong. Shame that the higher production value videos are usually the ones people, like myself, tend to prefer to watch, because they're more entertaining and contain less uninteresting faff than the "low production value" ones made by makers with perhaps better and longer experience with the machine(s) in practical and actual use.
Thank you for honest and really informative reviews ! Good job !
Excellent video. Maybe the way to mitigate the problem of videos being only a snapshot in time is making regular update videos, even if it is 6 months or a year down the line. One could even group a bunch of different printers / brands together so it attracts more views and attention for everyday viewers.
What I think is needed, is for people that do reviews of 3D printers (and related products) is for the 3D printing community to come up with a common license agreement (like found in Open Source software) and create an alliance of reviewers. Then if a manufacturer wants to work with anyone that's part of that alliance, they have to agree to those terms. Create a good contract that works for the community and manufacturers.
Thank you for the honesty!!!
Nice video
funny to see @Loyal Moses channel living up to its name! 🤣
Yeah, he's not "Honest Moses" is he?
You just earned a new subscriber. I don’t trust any of the day one videos, videos with click bait titles, or videos with overly fancy thumbnails. Just content creators saying what they have to keep getting free stuff. The new K2 from Creality coming out has brought quite few whiners. Creators bound by the embargo whining about people who paid for their printers releasing videos before they can. I’ve seen one even saying he was going to report them to Creality. It just shows that they care more about hopping on the hype train than having good content. I just block those creators from being recommended by the algorithm. Also, FLSun can rot.
It is interesting that the two K2 videos I have watched so far seem very odd. With comments like, "we are just opening the box, we will do a review later." I realize Creality has a lot riding on this new printer and that is understandable. Let's hope they do the right thing and not follow the tactics of FLSun.
On behalf of Mr Roboto, thank you for calling out this practice. I enjoy when channels go back to printers a few months later and say, hey I've got x thousand prints on this thing and here is where it sits!
Thank you for sharing your story and thoughts on this issue!
This is definitely true. I was shocked for instance hearing that aurora tech channel took payment for reviews, but nobody realizes this because it's not all reviews.
They also remove comments that talk about this or flaws of printers if they are big enough.
The bots from, presumably manufacturers is awful. It kinda sucks because you can't be sure it's actually the company doing this, but it still creates a wild atmosphere for viewer.
I think something that matters is that often reviewers leave the viewer with too vague a viewpoint for someone who isn't an enthusiast so it's important that the content creator themselves leaves a simplified opinion so that bot comments don't have too great an effect.
Lol, so I'm not the only one who's noticed.
I need to start telling this to people who comment on my videos telling me to be more like Aurora Tech.
Wow - that is really disappointing to hear
I don't trust any online reviewers unless they state they have no relationship with the manufacturer and purchased with their own money. Even then I'm cautious.
I hope you won't get into trouble for this, because honesty is a rare good these days. Thank you for the honest report.
I've stopped watching Videos where the product has been received 5 minutes ago by the reviewer. What I hope becomes the norm is the 12 months later review . The how to do it , how to fix it vids , how to negotiate the software hurdles , how to install the OS and get it working type videos are time better spent on YT . Completely agree with your comments.
Great reality check! And there’s more to learn from this. It’s not just printers…
Thank you for your honesty and transparency.
I saw a video recently where someone was ranking the best filament brands. And the one they picked as the best happened to be a brand that was their repeated sponsor, thereby rendering their entire video completely useless. Even if they were telling the truth and completely objective, it can't be trusted.
I too recall Maker's Muse contents on this issue. Your comments coincided with his concerns in many regards. Your comments are also aligned with my personal opinion requiring time to form that opinion. I don't care if is a sponge. You're not getting a review out of me a day or two after I received the product. FLSUN: No YGK3D: YES
Keep up the good work. In the future you'll be one of the trusted voices we know we can depend on.
I am disgusted and appalled at the terms of that FLSun 'contract'. You have done a great service to this community by exposing the terms they impose on anyone who they send a printer to for 'review'. Thank you for sharing this with us. This has some relevance to me, because when I first heard of the S1 I was very impressed with what I read about it, and I thought it would be my next printer when it became available. Fortunately, I saw your review as well as others on the S1, and I am very grateful that I did not buy it.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. TFL has been off my list for awhile for similar reasons. Anyone reviewing FLSUN will probably join them on my ignore list.
Clough42 does fantastic work in general. Love his channel.
ANY review of a freebie MUST contain disclaimers before, during and after the video. These rules should be enforced by youtube if not the community!
I bought a sovol sv07 plus last year, based on very positive reviews. But the reality was very different . It has been a pain to make it works and even so with regular failures.
My experience after that:
- Dont buy a printer without an automatic bed leveling and be sure its absolutely reliable.
- if its a bed slinger, don't buy a printer without x and y rails , avoid moving systems with wheels.
- check if you can replace the hot end easily.
- be sure to use good filaments.
- dont rush on new brands or new products , let's a minimum of time for the community feedback to confirm if it's a reliable product.
This is why I stopped buying stuff and just went outside.
WHOA. I didn't get that kind of email interaction. That is terrible. I agree, 100% honesty and transparency is imperative. I'd rather kill a relationship with a brand in favor of transparency on the issues related to the printers. I always try to put a minimum of 300 print hours on my printers. To see if there are any issues that will come up during that time.
You should probably share the details of your agreement if different so viewers understand your obligations back to the manufacturer. The agreement described here definitely sets up a 'you must agree to the understanding that we own you' relationship.
Nicely made point. Wish you'd review more products, at your own pace... As I tend to avoid any brand new products in the consumer 3D printing space, that would match my pace ;-).
If they're on RUclips I already pretty much throw them in the trash.
Even if they openly state that they're sponsored and/or got the printer for free (which is essentially the same thing, especially because companies aren't sending free printers to people who highlight flaws all the time), and try to say "oh but they didn't influence my review" uh huh. My favorite are when all these "uninfluenced" people use the same exact terminology. Almost like they were told to use it and don't expect people to watch more than one video about it? There was some resin printer recently that every review I watched called "the Bambu of resin" and every one of them got butthurt when I called it out in the comments...
Cant wait for your review of Qidi Plus4, I was very interested, almost bought it first second :D but i decided to wait a bit, when waters are more calm :D
Man it’s a shame I shouldn’t listen to people online, cause you made some really great points, but I’m gonna have to ignore you.
Good thinking, thanks for sharing your perspective.
And then there is the clickbait on top od it all "... Changes the game" - "Watch this if never ever want to ... again" and on and on... By the way: Great video 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I had my heart and mind set on an Elegoo Mars 5 but that was BEFORE I started looking at reviews on RUclips. I quickly concluded that the astroturfed review content meant that I would be one of the few people actually BUYING a printer rather than receiving a freebie and shilling. So shady that i decided I didnt want to have anything to do with them.
Calling manufactures out does nothing as it just has been proved with flsun that continues to false advertise their products and I bet they are not the only one. The real and right solution here is sueing them. You as youtubers/influencers have the power and money to make this possible and have the right outcome. Of course all the other users of the products can help to this.
I would gladly pay a small amount of money if I was a user to see them punished for all this thing they are doing.
I really like your videos and continue the good work.
"You as youtubers/influencers have the power and money" I can assure you that you are greatly over estimating how much this dude is making with this youtube channel.
@@paulhuckaby I used plural meaning that even is someone alone doesn't have enough money/power to do it, a lot of them could. I know that he is a small channel and doesn't make a lot of money but he could cooperate with other bigger channels.