Topic: Newbie Report / Davinci Minimaker
Wow, lots of grief related to XYZPrinting printers on these forums. I must be lucky as I've experienced none of it.
I'm new to 3D printing (a few weeks in) with a small investment in a Davinci Minimaker ($156 from Amazon during a mid January sale plus $50 for the Smart Tag).
Smart Tag indeed works and the $50 is absolutely worth it to avoid the endless NFC struggle (I started there with some success and then abandoned in irritation). I've used the starter XYZPrinting filament and with the Smart Tag, Sunlu and Eryone, all with decent results with just a little tinkering. I've applied all those evil software and firmware updates and use the built in slicing and turn on supports and slow things down as needed using the settings in XYZprint. I've printed a low polygon owl, a buddha, Rodin's Thinker, a chess set, a spool holder (so you can leave the Smart Tag on the built in hub), a Sunlu hub adapter and none were disaster.
For now, this "easy bake oven" is serving its purpose - teaching me the basics of 3D printing and materials.