Makerfarm 50 micron vs Duplicator i3 100 micron by Wanhao

Hello all, I am looking to purchase a printer this week, I know I definitely want a Prusa i3, but I see the MakerFarm is a 50 micron layer height (http://www.makerfarm.com/index.php/prusa-8-i3v-kit-v-slot-extrusion.html/), vs others that are 100. Would the maker farm one be better over, say this one? [wanhaousa.com] Price difference is pretty decent. I want to make sure I get the most for my money. Could I use the money saved on the Wanhao (which comes assembled with 1 year warranty), and upgrade it to be able to do 50 micron and what not?

Thanks all!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2015 12:00PM by MostHated.

The duplicator looks great, but it is not a kit from what I can see, it looks good a strong, with great features. Really depends more on the experience you want out of your 3d printing, I decided to scratch build as I thought I might learn more and end up with the components I wanted.

I think the layer height difference may not be real, just comes down to how far they dare to push the marketing. Most people print a lot around .1 to .3 mm as other factors like variability in filament diameter begins to have more of an impact at finer resolutions.

Upgrades are likely to appear if the printer needs it. Thingiverse is full of upgrades for almost all the printers currently on the market. The duplicator has not shipped yet, so I suspect you will not really find out what is wrong with it until a few makers have purchased.

Wanhao duplicator i3 - Free shipping worldwide. Lead time 5 days

https://www.3dprintersonlinestore.com/professional-prusa-i3-wanhao

I purchased 35 of these from Wanhao USA for students in a prototyping summer camp this month. I have to say I was truly suprised at the quality and functionality. I have just about every destop model available and these compair well with some models costing 3x as much. They have been printing well from day one - only two of the 35 required minor adjustments to the hot end (although they did print out of the box, they needed minor adjustments). Customer service has been unneeded except arraiging purchase and delivery but communication through that process was excellent.

I don't think you can get hurt on this purchase at the price they sell for. I don't think I could buy the components for their price.