I wish I had gotten off my butt and compiled most of this information under a Google Doc that was public so the information thats spread out all over the place could be properly organized by subject matter and model and hardware versions.

I bought my printer to make money from my prints. Still in the negatives, but rapidly climbing out. Unfortunately my broken extruder (again, documentation for older printers had me running it too cold) set me back further. But if it stops breaking, I can eventually get ahead.

Fix the documentation Solidoodle! John (solijohn or other Solidoodle folks), if you're listening, hear my pleas. Give documentation higher priority after the Press madness ends. It is important. You only hurt yourselves, because us persistent customers will figure it out. The less patient ones throw it in a box and talk smack about you for the rest of their days. It doesn't have to be this way.

Think about all the people attracted to 3d printing by the Solidoodle who are immediately discouraged by your documentation problems. And if you think your customer support is helpful enough to close the gap, ensure you have data to back up this claim, or you are probably deluding yourselves.

... you'll bang your head into the wall for days as you try to figure out why the hell the belt tensioning guide applies to all printers but yours. And this is but one example...

Yea, they keep changing the design, and every time they do, half of the remaining videos and wiki pages become obsolete. Fortunately after much research, I got a solidoodle primarily because I wanted to fiddle with it almost as much as I wanted to 3D print stuff (and well over half of the stuff I've printed is mainly for fiddling with the printer :-). From my current state of learning, I'd probably built a printer instead of buying one, but I'd never have been able to do that without everything I've learned from the solidoodle.

Like anything else pay $2500 for a 3d printer and there is little fuss to get it to work. Pay $ 600 and there is less time at the factory for final testing and adjustment. Also less money in the budget to pay someone to do real documentation.
I agree sd is a good product for the money. I am having fun with my my SD 4 and  it would be difficult to justify the outlay for an Ultimaker .
Tin

I've seen people try to defend Solidoodle about this on here before, and I don't know why they bother. "If they took the time to write a book, they couldn't build more machines!" They'd sell more machines and have higher customer satisfaction with an up-to-date manual or official online reference in a professional form like a PDF. It's unfortunate that I can't recommend a Solidoodle to my less technically-able friends, because I know they will suffer with it. Those lost sales all go to Makerbot or other more friendly printers which do a less good job at double the price. And that doubled price point isn't from documentation alone, I can assure you.

BUT... all this said... love my 'doodle. Love it a lot. Solidoodle makes a great product.

It also didn't help that the included slip of paper with the printer sent me to a 404. Super helpful. I already knew where to go, but some folks might not... (For the n+1'th time, yes, I'm certain I typed it in correctly. I'm not an idiot, promise.)

SOOOOO I am finding the world of 3D printing is not unlike the other experiences I have had in life with hobby machines. I learned many years ago that  a new bicycle no matter how nice needs to be assembled and adjusted before riding and then adjusted again soon after assembly and the wise patience diligent mechanic not only adjusts  but takes things apart first cleans out the junk and chips left by manufacturing adds quality grease reassembles then adjusts the bearing races trues the wheels adjusts the brakes etc.
If you want a smooth ride and the machine to last you need to do this.

Then later in life I got into machining as a hobby after receiving professional training. And once again found hobby machine tools are pre assembled kits. One needs to disassemble remove chips and burrs clean off the gunk the factory puts on for rust protection and add real lubrication reassemble and adjust.
It seems the Home hobby level of the 3d printers are along the same lines. The unit is assembled at the factory but there is no time for fine tuning re checking screws etc and it seems things do come loose in shipping. belts are on the loose side back lash is evident.
And in this modern world of no documentation or software shipped in the package we are forced to hunt the internet for a viable initial setup procedure to get things going. In this world of instant foods and plug and play devises we often forget that many worthwhile things in life require set up and a maintenance to perform well. 

And yes I agree the folks here help make the 3d printing experience possible.

Tin

Had to learn about the belts. Had a bent Z switch, learned a lot about calibrating and getting prints to stick (still have some warping).

But after all is said and done, I have my printer doing really great stuff and I'm really impressed with the quality for the price.

My biggest issue overall is lack of understanding where to go for real information. This community was the most critical since documentation is remarkably bad and inaccessible and inconsistent (particularly between the SD3 and SD4 leaps which do have some differences in more than just the case). There are also myriads of bad links, included with the documents sent literally with the printer.

Honestly I think it could have taken a lot longer to figure out if I wasn't lucky in realizing some of the issues (like the bent tab preventing the Z switch from stopping at the proper location, or the hex screw on the rod towards the front that tightens the belt... nowhere listed in any video or documents).

But again, the quality of the prints coming out of it now that I have the basic understanding of the system and what's going on with it is extremely good (even next to other much more expensive consumer 3D extruder printers).

Highly recommended if you're willing to stick through the steep entry in figuring out how to get it up and running since it's definitely NOT an 'out of the box' solution. It does take work, but it's well worth it.